Title: Product BOMs in different lifecycle contexts managed by a PLM system as a requirement for implementing digital twins

Authors: Darli Vieira; Eduardo Schmoller; Alencar Bravo

Addresses: Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières, Canada ' Siemens Digital Industries Software, Brazil ' Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Canada

Abstract: This work is based on a real case of digital twin implementation in one of the largest global mining companies; this firm was aiming to improve maintenance planning and management. The object studied is a subsystem of a car dumper, a critical piece of equipment in mining. This work concludes that without digital product bills of materials (BOMs) managed by a product lifecycle management (PLM) system, it is not possible to institutionalise the digital twin in a company; it illustrates a practical application of PLM system integration into computer-aided design (CAD) software. The BOMs are a requirement for implementing digital twins and provide the basis for the connection between the real and virtual worlds; they are the coalescent product structure for information registration and exchange. This work demonstrates that representative data related to digital product BOMs managed by a PLM system are the foundation for improving maintenance management in mining companies and that BOMs are a requirement for implementing digital twins.

Keywords: digital twin; maintenance planning; operational assets; bills of material; BOM; PLM system; software integration; CAD software.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2022.123555

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2022 Vol.14 No.1, pp.1 - 17

Received: 18 Mar 2021
Accepted: 01 Sep 2021
Published online: 27 Jun 2022 *