PLM: Going beyond product development and delivery Integration of CAD knowledge with PLM: Application to product development process during requirements clarification and detailed design phases

PLM has become a major subject of research in the past decade. It includes research works in engineering fields, information technologies and human science. Dealing with the interactions of numerous experts in a common software environment, PLM presents major difficulties resulting from these interactions. The paper presents research works dealing with CAD and PLM data exchange. A system is developed to enable the transfer of relevant data from the CAD to the PLM in order to enrich the PLM Database with expert data resulting from the design activities. The user interface is integrated to the CAD System and provides a friendly interface for distinguishing the relevant data to be transfer to the PLM System. A transfer protocol is presented, based on XML technology. This transfer enables the link with other fields of product development through the use of PLM functionalities. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the research conducted. Keyword: Product Lifecycle Management, CAD Knowledge, Data Exchange