Automatic Migration of Files from Pro/Engineer to Windchill Server by Integrating Pro/Engineer with Visual C++ using Pro/Toolkit

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1 Automatic Migration of Files from Pro/Engineer to Windchill Server by Integrating Pro/Engineer with Visual C++ using Pro/Toolkit Nikhil.Daslaniya Software Engineer L & T Technology Services Limited, Gujarat Yogesh N. Dangar Assistant Professor G. H. Patel College of Engineering and Technology Abstract - Modern manufacturers rely on strong enterprise systems to stay competitive in today s global, challenging, and uncertain markets. Of all solutions that manufacturers employ, PLM is the primary system driving product profitability. Customization in PLM is a software application development activity. Generally repetitive tasks with predefined logic can easily be taken care of, by developing customized PLM software. Such work is often carried out in segments of various Engineering activities like Machine/Equipment, Design, Fabrication, Tool Design, Automotive, Piping and Tubing, Process control equipments. There are many ways of customization such as Knowledge Base Engineering, Parametric Modelling in 3D CAD software, Utilities in 3D or 2D CAD software. Data migration is required when an organization overtakes, upgrades PLM or starts new PLM practice; it has to have existing CAD data into one common PLM server. We have proposed one methodology which is CAD DataLoader, which is a data migration tool which uploads bulk CAD data from a Windows file system to Windchill server through native application. Keywords-component CAD DataLoader, PLM, Windchill, Pro/Engineer, Creo In this paper, we organized the content into five sections as follows. First we introduce Product Life cycle Management s role in industries. It is followed by the discussion on how to optimize process cycle by applying customization into existing PLM-CAD Software in second section. Proposed application methodology using Cad data loader application developed by us is described in third section. In section four and five we conclude with proposed methodology with existing manual process by results and conclusion. I INTRODUCTION PLM is an acronym for Product Lifecycle Management which can be best understood when read backwards, that is, Management of Lifecycle of a Product. Our definition of Product is anything which is engineered from resources around us; from Nano-transistors to Space Stations, everything around and beyond us can be coined as a product. Lifecycle of a product can be categorized into 5 phases: Phase 1: Ideation & Feasibility Study Phase 2: Design Phase 3: Implementation Phase 4: Support & Service Phase 5: Obsolescence or Continuous Improvement 244

2 Phase 1: Ideation & Feasibility Study This involves New Product Introduction (NPI) and New Product Variant Introduction (NPVI). In this Phase business as well as technical feasibility study of the product idea is done. Phase 2: Design This phase involves both engineering as well as manufacturing design and defines the application, resources, process required for realization of product. Phase 3: Implementation Implementation is about bringing Product idea to reality, based on the design which is finalized. This broadly involves manufacturing tools, processes and resources. Phase 4: Support & Service This phase involves support and services when product is out in the market, which broadly involves catalogue management, inventory management, spare management and supplier management. Phase5: Obsolescence This involves proper disposal or reuse of the material used in the product so that it does not pollute the environment. PLM should not be confused with lifecycle of product in actual when they are out in the market. Product lifecycle in the market follows flat bell curve whereas PLM is all about managing product lifecycle from ideation to obsolescence. So, we brief about PLM s role in industries. Of course most manufacturers aren t able to implement all of these capabilities at once, but instead take a PLM Program approach to put in the basics and grow from there. PLM helps manufacturers to design, develop, and launch profitable products. Now, if companies are using PLM to deliver products and services to their customers; one way to build the sustainable competitive advantage is by optimizing the internal processes used to develop and deliver these products and services. A multitude of solutions exists to help companies achieve this goal. But best way to optimize process is to automate or customize the existing processes. This paper presents the customization of PLM software. [1] II CAD CUSTOMIZATION In current times, customization is required to optimize a process. If any industry is using CAD software then definitely customization can be applied, but in our mind questions like why is it required arise. Is it fruitful? And will it satisfy customer needs? Practically there is no limitation as such to where the customization can be done. Any industry like Mechanical, Electrical or Civil etc. can be considered for the customized software solutions. CAD customization is a software application development activity. These applications typically automate some processes reducing manual effort. CAD customization is an add-on application developed to work in CAD software environment. Now second Challenge is identifying such tasks. Generally customized software is used for repetitive tasks with predefined logic. This type of work is primarily carried out in segments of various Engineering activities such as Machine/Equipment, Design, Fabrication, Tool Design, Automotive, Piping and Tubing, Process control equipment's, PLM (Product Life Cycle Management). As for customization, there are many ways like KBE (Knowledge Base Engineering), Parametric Modelling in 3D CAD software s, Utilities in 3D or 2D CAD software s. [2] 245

3 The proposed methodology focuses on combined domains of Knowledge Base Engineering and Parametric Modelling in 3D CAD software. Here we identify such tasks which involve Data Migration. Data migration is a key element to consider for any company or organization when adopting any new system to replace an older system, either through purchase or new development. It would be easy to assume that any two systems, old and new, that maintain similar data must perform similar tasks. Consequently, information from one system should map to the other with ease. In reality, this is rarely the case. Although migrating data can be a fairly time-consuming process, here is why the solution is needed for such tasks listed below: 1. Reduces the migration cycle time. 2. Assures the accuracy in migration. 3. Reduces the required level of expertise. 4. Effective use and distribution of Migration Knowledge 5. Protects the Intellectual property. 6. Value addition in Migration Process. 7. Increase the overall Productivity. 8. Reduces human errors and increases efficiency. Now Customers having issues after migrating data from different CAD Platforms and also proposed data health checker kind of solution for correcting the data (Instance Rename, etc..) and also validating (Geometry comparison, Drawing Checks, etc.. ) by automated check tools and generate reports. Fig 1: PLM Industries Scenario As per scenario of current era, customer wants to migrate files to common PLM software, update files as per organization standards and also validate, generate standard reports that show 100% reliability for this process. This requirement is described above by block diagram. Integration of Pro/Engineer to Windchill Server with Visual C++ using Pro/Toolkit for design automation: Most of the CAD systems in industry have their own macro language or API s as defined in their proprietary native toolkit environment (Rohm, 2001). This approach allows the user to perform all of the functionalities that the CAD system s graphical user interface offers. This gives user the benefit of repeatability, handling errors, requesting user input and accessing databases. The programmatic approach has given engineers the ability to modify existing models quickly by changing a few pre-defined parameters and hence reducing production time. However, despite these benefits, one of the biggest issues is the time consuming learning curve that engineers have to 246

4 undergo. Figure 1 illustrates how a programming language interacts with a CAD package through an API toolkit [1] Fig 2: Programming language and CAD interface The purpose of this paper is to develop applications, using code written in C/C++ programming language using visual studio platform and integrate these into Pro/Engineer and wind chill server to perform various data migration tasks. Pro/Toolkit, the customization toolkit API for Pro/Engineer, is used to enable this integration. III CURRENT METHODOLOGY When an organization migrates to PLM practice or updates it; it needs to have the existing CAD data in one common PLM server. Before bulk CAD data is moved to new/common PLM, it needs cleaning and is updated with native CAD application as per the organization standards or attributes. Updating attributes of bulk CAD data is organization specific, time consuming and prone to human errors. If CAD files from the native CAD application (like Pro/Engineer 4.0) have to be uploaded one at a time from windows system to windchill server. For these processes total six steps are required, which are described in below block diagram. If there are hundreds of such files that needs to be uploaded one at a time and then check in into windchill workspace. This gets very tedious and is also prone to human errors. Open File in ProE Add Parameter Save file Open Tools Parameters and Add Parameter Save File to Windchill Workspace File Check-In done Upload File(s) Check-In File(s) Fig 3: Manually Uploading Process from ProEngineer to Windchill Server Since bulk CAD data loading into PLM is time consuming and cumbersome, every Industry wants a one click solution for it. 247

5 IV PROPOSED METHODOLOGY We propose a data migration tool which uploads bulk CAD data from a windows file system to windchill server through a native application which is CAD DataLoader. This methodology has successfully migrated Pro/Engineer files from Pro/Engineer to Windchill for PLM Industries. CAD DataLoader is a one click solution for checking in Bulk CAD Data into Windchill server. CAD data loader is developed & delivered by L&T Technology Services and offers a swift and reliable way of migrating, uploading and check-in a large quantity of CAD data from Windows file system into PLM system. It updates the attributes of bulk CAD data through native CAD application when provided with an excel file containing attributes & file name as input and at one shot eliminating human errors. It also validates existing or dependent CAD files from Windchill and identifies conflicts in advance, by doing so CAD data loader optimizes server side conflicts. Bulk CAD data loader facilitates to upload files into batch mode which enhance the scheduling of upload process and complete utilization of data upload process. A simple and modernized UI makes the uploading process quick and effective. Moreover data migration is a process that not only involves use of tools but also has a migration methodology. Proposed methodology describe in below block diagram. Input Excel File CAD Files Stored in Server CAD DataLoader CAD Files Report Generated Fig 4: Proposed Methodology for uploading Process from ProEngineer to Windchill Server V RESULTS AND COMPARISON Will this concept optimize the file handling of industries? Yes, indeed it has been implemented by one of customers. They have successfully cleaned up and migrated, Pro/Engineer files from Windchill 8.0 to Windchill 9.1 with minimal effort. Here are comparisons of manual process with proposed methodology. We consider factors of time and money for the comparison. VI CONCLUSIONS In this paper, the object and definition of PLM and Customization role in PLM industries is addressed. We also give a brief introduction to customization on CAD Software and how it will help to extend his tasks. We also proposed customization on data migration for Windchill server. This technique of developing an interface using Pro/Toolkit also provides new openings to explore 248

6 capabilities in the area of migration of wind chill server automation. A possible area would be to link a Pro/Toolkit application with other CAD packages using an external program to create an optimization process of uploading. Method Manual Method Proposed Method Data Migration from Pro/Engineer 4.0 to Windchill Server 9.1 No. of Cost per Parts per Time hour(*20$ per Parameter Consuming hour) 10 parameter for 100 files 5000 minutes ~84 Hours 1680$ 10 parameter for 100 files 10 minutes 4$ VII FUTURE WORK As mentioned in this paper, a large amount of research is undergoing in the area of PLM Automation. These continued efforts of automation can be classified as improvements on the first step of the topology to CAD modelling and uploading cycle. Improvements on the current implementation of the method would include development of more complex iteration and design cycle. These methods could be used to fit shapes to much more distributed work, Reduce Design Iterations, Improve efficiency and work smartly with new methods of integration of ProEngineer with CAD server. REFERENCES [1] PLM Matters, News Latter, L&T Technology Services, Tuesday, February 18, [2] Pro/Engineer Wildfire 4.0 Pro/Toolkit Users guide (2010). Pro/Engineer Wildfire 4.0 Documentation. (Comes with the software package). [3] Rohm, T., (2001) Graphical Creation of CAD Parametric Application Programs. M.S. Thesis, Brigham Young University. [4] Sabareeshan, K. C., (2010) Integration of Pro/Engineer with Microsoft Visual C++ using Pro/Toolkit. M.S Thesis, Clarkson University. AUTHORS Nikhil Daslaniya: has completed his B.E. in Information Technology, from Sardar Patel University, V.V. Nagar, Gujarat, in He is working in L&T Technology Services as Software Engineer in Product Lifecycle Management practice, Gujarat, India, since Yogesh N. Dangar: has completed his B.E. in Information Technology, from Sardar Patel University, V.V. Nagar, Gujarat, in year He Received the M.E. degree in, Information and Technology, from Gujarat Technological University in year He is working as Assistant Professor in Information Technology department at G. H. Patel College of Engineering and Technology since July