ECS Engineering Consulting & Solutions offers numerous services and solutions for the IoT platform MindSphere. The ECS connectors between MindSphere, PLM and ERP systems enable bidirectional data exchange and communication between the systems.
The concept of product lifecycle management (PLM) has now existed for more than two decades and has not yet been able to fully live up to its name. PLM systems have arisen from the need to manage and configure data from CAD systems and to document changes as they occur. They support the design and provision of data for production as well as the creation of manuals and operating instructions. However, PLM implementations have not been able to cover the entire product lifecycle as promised by the PLM name. A key hurdle to this has been the non-existent link between PLM systems and the "in-service" world, i.e. the lack of up-to-date "life" data and condition information on products in use and their production -.
PLM is to be understood as a holistic management concept which, with the inclusion of coordinated methods, processes and IT systems, can centrally manage all product-related data and information arising along the entire product life cycle and make it available to the relevant user groups. This means: PLM is only PLM when it actually encompasses all relevant product data, information flows and workflows.
With the rapid rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), this holistic PLM approach can now be realized. By equipping products and manufacturing plants with sensors, together with IoT, a continuous data feedback from the "in-service" phase and production can take place, so that the "L" (Lifecycle) in "PLM" gets its intended meaning. The original vision that product-relevant data for any decision within the product lifecycle can be made available online and directly across all departmental boundaries becomes a reality in the combination and integration of IoT in conjunction with PLM and ERP (Enterprise Resource Management). On this basis, it is now possible for companies to offer appropriate maintenance and services, for example preventive failure analysis, performance testing and inspection services, maximizing efficiency and productivity in operations. By systematically storing, aggregating and evaluating relevant data, it is now possible to provide feedback from production as well as on products already in use, advice on design improvement and adaptation according to individual customer needs.
MindSphere is an open IoT operating system developed by Siemens. It works cloud-based and enables data from connected systems, machines, plants and products to be aggregated, analyzed and made available.
In order to create innovative applications in the PLM context on this platform, to ensure the continuous availability of data and information flows throughout the entire product lifecycle and the return flow of insights gained from data analysis, ECS Engineering Consulting & Solutions GmbH provides corresponding services and solutions with its ECS Cloud Solutions. The ECS connectors between MindSphere, PLM and ERP systems enable bidirectional data exchange and communication between the systems. The ECS Process Engine manages the flow of the overarching business logic and processes. Via interfaces, the processes and process steps can be used in apps and services. The ECS solutions are available for the important and market-leading PLM and ERP systems and technologies.
