Elements of Product Lifecycle Management: Definitions, Open Issues and Reference Models

The thesis contributes to the area of PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) as a two-layer topic: the first deals with a definition of the boundaries of what is considered as PLM in the market, while, in a complementary way, the second deals with the definition of a reference metamodel for product management and traceability along the product lifecycle. Product and production management have become complicated processes where more problems are overlapping each other's. Product development might ever more take into account improved customers' tastes and requests in a shorter time-to-market. This way, the product lifecycle and its related management are becoming unavoidable key aspects, creating such a “product centric” (or product-driven) problem. The integrated management of all the information regarding the “product” and its production is one of the related questions. One of the main issues concerning with the product management in a wider perspective (along a defined lifecycle), deals with the traceability of the product. The problem of information exchange could easily arise and further standardization efforts will be needed, so establishing a kind of barriers to the diffusion of the same holonic traceability. In order to reduce these further barriers, but ever more in order to improve the currently definition and the study of Holonic product traceability, we are looking to the current situation of enterprise information systems (where product information are resident) and trying to elaborate it in an holonic view, creating a conceptual HMS product-oriented architecture.