PLM, ERP and Managing of Effectivity

One of my blog readers asked me few questions about managing of effectivity. I decided to share this information. In my view, the conversation about Effectivity is always complicated. There are lots of opinions about how you need to manage effectivity, what system serves the best the purpose of effectivity management and how to solve potential complication when dealing with effectivity management.

Effectivity in ERP vs. PDM/PLM

Effectivity definition originally comes from MRP/ERP environment. The most typical example is “date effectivity” which defines the available to a particular Part/Item. The “effectivity” term is not specific for manufacturing environment. However, I found it useful in many related to manufacturing systems. PDM/PLM originally was created without effectivity in mind. Most of engineering systems are “revision” oriented rather than “effectivity” oriented. It means PDM/PLM is managing different revision of objects (i.e. Parts, Documents, etc.) rather than defines their effectivites. However, with the increased need of integration between PDM and ERP as well as the introduction of PLM systmes on the market, the need to manage effectivity on multiple Bill of Materials int the environment different from manufacturing increased significantly. Effectivity might be defined as a date, serial number or, in a more complex way, as a “unit” (think about a particular car configuration / model).

Effectivity: Part vs. BOM

The difference between effectivity in the context of a Part and the effectivity in the context of a BOM is often getting misunderstood. These two effectivities can be managed independently. Part effectivity scope is only Part itself. An example is a manufacturing part effective from 1-June until 31-August. At the same time, you can define effectivity of a particular part in the context of the assembly. In the case of assembly, a Part can be used in different assemblies /BOMs with a different effectivity.

Effectivity Management

What means management of effectivity? Some of the elements of effectivity management related to the definition of effectivity dates, S/N, units, etc. They are coming as an information from suppliers (in case of standard parts), subcontractors, manufacturing planners, etc. At the same time, there is another aspect of efectivity management related to proliferation of effectivity during the management of Bill of Materials and ECO. One of the examples can be a change of Bill of Material related to the ECO implementation. There are many other situations. They can be very specific and depend on company practices and development/manufacturing processes.

Effecitivity and Different Industries.

Some elements of effectivity management can be different, depends on the industry. Development practices in discrete manufacturing are from electronic and others. In addition, different effectivity types can be applied in case of managing highly configured equipment (i.e. cars, airplanes, etc.)en. The diversity between industry are caused by differences in product development methodologies as well as by differences in data modeling.

What is my conclusion? Effectivity management can be complicated. It can be especially complicated, in the case of multiple environments – PDM, PLM, ERP. The synchronization between systems as well as effectivities updates can be challenging to be implemented. To maintain a consistent system is a crucial part of implementation from the standpoint of a standalone system as well as multiple connected environments. I hope this summary provided you with the basics of the effectvity management. At the same time, I would be interested to hear about your practices in how you manage effectivity in different environments.

Best, Oleg

Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing cloud-based bill of materials and inventory management tool for manufacturing companies, hardware startups, and supply chain. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.