In manufacturing companies, release processes play a pivotal role in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). They typically follow a defined status progression, ensuring that products move seamlessly through various stages of development and approval. However, to release revisions effectively, it's imperative to ensure that all necessary prerequisites for approval are met.
Within Teamcenter, the creation of new items or the revision of existing ones results in the generation of new "working" revisions. Teamcenter workflows are then employed to release these revisions and their associated data. Depending on the progress of these revisions, they are assigned various release statuses, such as prototype approval, pre-approval, manufacturing approval, documentation approval, and so on, culminating in final invalidation approval.
To facilitate the release of revisions, it is crucial to ensure that all required criteria for approval are met. This is where the Teamcenter Add-On BCT CheckIt comes into play, offering automated validation mechanisms, including checks on the release status of both the current and respective previous revisions.
BCT CheckIt provides the essential validation mechanisms in the form of release status checks. This versatile tool can address a range of scenarios:
This check ensures that the current revision must already be released with a status of 30 before it can progress to a "higher" status of 60.
BCT CheckIt prevents multiple "working" revisions, ensuring that only one revision is actively worked on at a time.
This check enforces that only one revision with a status of 60 is released, while all other (previous) revisions must be set as invalid with a status of 90.
In general, it is possible to define which status values are allowed, taking into account the release statuses of the previous revisions. Furthermore, users can choose which revisions of the item to consider for the validation, such as all revisions, only the current one, only the earlier ones, or all the earlier ones.
The configurable rule set within BCT CheckIt allows for versatile application in accordance with the specific needs of your organization. It provides the flexibility to adapt to different use cases and align with your company's requirements seamlessly.
By automating these release status checks, manufacturing companies can enhance their Product Lifecycle Management processes, streamline approval workflows, and ensure that products progress through their lifecycle efficiently.
BCT CheckIt proves to be an invaluable tool on the way to efficient and error-free release processes in Teamcenter and is the key to automating release status checks in Teamcenter. It ensures that your release processes are not only efficient, but also adhere to defined criteria and standards, ultimately leading to smoother product lifecycles and improved productivity.
Watch the OnDemand webinar "Rollercoaster ride through release processes" now and learn how INTAMIN - one of the leading manufacturers of theme park rides - optimized its approval process in Teamcenter by using BCT CheckIt.