PDXpert PLM Software
Product Support
PLM good practices for managing your product data
At a glance
Practical PLM concepts you can adopt step by step
If product data grew from spreadsheets, shared drives, or one-off processes, small early decisions can become expensive to unwind. These notes connect modern PLM practice to how PDXpert supports numbering, parts, BOMs, sourcing, documents, and change—without burying you in theory first.
Part numbers, form-fit-function, and when a new identifier is warranted.
Interchangeability, purchased parts, approved sources, and alternates.
Document numbering, software as part vs document, and engineering change design.
Many people come to PLM from informal processes that have evolved as their company has grown. While these in-house processes are usually intended to solve an immediate problem, some decisions may have long-term effects that become increasingly complicated and expensive to correct.
In the following topics, we'll explain how current PLM good practices, combined with PDXpert PLM software features, can simplify your engineering data management process.
By adopting PLM good practices, you'll inevitably increase productivity, reduce clerical burdens, and create more accurate product information.
Topics
- Part number system design
- Do parts have revisions? What the form-fit-function rule tells us
- Applying principles of interchangeability to your bill of materials
- Defining and using purchased parts
- Approved vendor sources and supply chain modeling
- Identifying alternative ("ALT") parts for your bill of materials
- Life after MIL-STD-100: Document numbering
- Is software a document or a part?
- Designing your change process and defining your change forms
