Multidisciplinary Communication of a Sheet Metal Forming Case Using Digital Boundary Objects in a PLM-System

In this paper, a software tool for the automated assessment of parts to be manufactured by sheet metal forming is considered as a starting point for a boundary object for cross disciplinary communication in manufacturing companies. The tool is based on automated FEA calculations in CAD models allowing the quick verification of the manufacturability of sheet metal parts checking that they can be manufactured without failure of the material. The paper proposes to derive a boundary object from the data and information pertaining to the tool and manage it in a proposed structure in an item centered PLM system. In this way up to date information can be communicated in a format that can be understood by several different disciplines, possibly reducing the risk of errors in the design process and when carrying out changes. A suggestion of how to manage the data and information in the PLM system of the industrial manufacturing company is made and is discussed in this paper.