PLM use case in industrial goods sector (Material industry)

In this section, we would like to introduce three use cases of industrial goods sector where Obbligato solutions have been used.

Use case 1: Centralized management of product specification information and global information sharing

The first one is a use case of petrochemical manufacturer.
PLM has realized centralized management of product specification and global information sharing. Prior to the implementation of Obbligato solution for industrial goods sector, there were challenges such as the critical information of lubricant business like recipes (product specifications) were scattered in more than 20 countries and were being managed inefficiently. Furthermore, there was a risk of leakage of technical information that needed to be handled globally. Therefore, there was a need to re-build a future-oriented system due to the abolition of the existing IT system.

The key point of implementing PLM is to manage the recipe information comprehensively for each application such as prototype, development, production, in order to maintain the consistency of technical information and link it seamlessly from product development, design to manufacturing by using the Obbligato integrated BOM solution. In addition, it also manages technical information globally and centrally such as recipe, specifications, quality and ensures security to prevent the leakage of technical data.

The implementation of PLM has dramatically improved the searchability which will lead to the effective use of the past information, and reduction of quality incidents through accurate and reliable communication of change information to subsequent processes.

Use case 2: Integrated different business operations and IT systems by manufacturing plant

The second one is a use case of high-performance materials manufacturer that designs and manufactures aluminum-related materials. This customer has integrated different business operations and IT systems for each manufacturing plant by implementing PLM. There were challenges before implementation of PLM such as customer’s business operations and IT systems were managed individually by manufacturing plant and there were lots of double data management and duplication of work which were making the operations of the host computer that manages the technical information more complicated and furthermore maintainability and functional expandability of IT system were not so good.

The key point of implementing PLM is Obbligato integrated BOM and BOP management solution that centrally manages the technical information and master information centered on BOP information such as material composition, process procedures, and equipment operating conditions.
In addition, this customer has integrated everything from sales specification information to design and manufacturing by linking sales and manufacturing system. Finally, they have realized overall optimization by integrating their business operations and IT systems based on PLM.


The implementation of PLM has led to the improvements in operational efficiency through unification of business operations rules, IT systems, master files and the ability to respond to the changes in the market and customer requirements through a flexible system platform that anticipates future growth.