PDM-integrated material and compliance management
How Hexagon has integrated material and substance compliance management into the PDM system, placing emphasis on integrating declarations from the supply chain.
Hexagon
- Leading global provider of sensor, software and autonomous solutions
- Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden
- 24 000 employees in 50 countries
- Develops and produces for infrastructure, mobility and the public sector
THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
Consistency, Reliability, Efficiency
PDM-integrated material management provides the basis for clear, regulation-compliant and analysable material specifications for articles. In addition, the integration of supplier-specific substance compliance declarations creates the basis for a consistent, reliable, and efficient substance compliance process.
BENEFITS FOR HEXAGON
Reliable Data Quality, Distinct Material Specifications, Reduced Effort
- Managed phase-in/-out and lifecycle process for materials to ensure "clean" data quality and distinct material specifications
- Material database as an important basis for CAE (physical parameters)
- Material specification of products/articles is limited to verifiably compliant materials
- Supply chain can be integrated with regard to substance declaration data
- Prerequisite for (efficient) fulfilment of regulatory requirements
- Substance compliance declarations in the form of metadata allow analyses across different structures and enable reports based thereupon at the touch of a button. This significantly reduces the workload
- Relief for numerous previously involved "actors" (e.g. R&D, operations) due to newly established expertise and separation/clarification of responsibilities
- Data model enables scaling for various other compliance verifications
PROJECT CHALLENGES
Ensuring Clear, Analysable Material Specifications and Declarations
In the past, Hexagon did not have a mandatory specification of compliant materials for the material specification of articles. This resulted in different, sometimes ambiguous specifications. Other challenges also arose, such as
- Proof of use of substances/SVHCs required considerable manual effort
- Document-based approach to obtaining substance compliance information from suppliers made efficient evaluation across product structures virtually impossible, partly due to the lack of direct article reference
- Communication with suppliers via email was problematic with regard to the status, completeness and "storage location" of the data provided
- The lifecycle management of materials and consideration of updates to substance compliance regulations proved to be very challenging
IMPLEMENTED BY INTELLIACT
End-to-End Substance Compliance Process
Intelliact evaluated the required setup of IT tools for material and substance compliance management, including requirements definition and specifications. Intelliact also supported Hexagon in the process and data flow design for the implementation of:
- PDM extension to include material and substance management
- Connection of material database and expert application
- Connection of supplier portal for declaration requests to PDM (establishment of PDM as the "single point of truth" for material specifications and substance declarations)
- Interface from PDM to ERP and SRM for the purpose of providing supplier data and supplier parts as a data basis for declaration requests via the supplier portal
- The scope of services also included the seamless synchronisation of the basic material and declaration data model as well as the processes with the previously defined, comprehensive PLM overall concepts.
Would you like to ensure a consistent, reliable and efficient substance compliance process in your company? A process that ensures reliable data quality, guarantees distinct material specifications of products/articles and reduces your workload? We would be happy to support you.