Development of an integrated PLM-MES system through the open source Odoo platform =

Along the stages of industrial evolution, competitiveness increased with a high rate in the industrial environment, where companies compete in order to supply highly customized products through the most efficient technologies possible. To remain a main competitor in this environment, companies need to stay updated to the latest technologies and tools that can improve the production process as well as the relationship with the customers, vendors, suppliers etc. Information systems ensure efficient information flows and data collection in companies. This, in turn, allows a more effective design and production process. In fact, it is possible to store past experience, thus creating a digitized knowledge to avoid repeating the same errors which reduces production time in the future and hence increasing competitiveness. Information systems mostly adopted in industrial companies are Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Manufacturing Execution System (MES). The information flow between these two information systems ensures the industrial goals in achieving a more efficient and competitive system. PLM captures, manages, and shares the data regarding the product through its whole lifecycle from design until recycle or disposal. Whereas, MES manages and shares information regarding shop floor data and manufacturing status. The objective of this work is to study the feasibility of using a single information system, able to collect and exchange information from both PLM and MES. To this aim, the open source Odoo platform was used, and an industrial use case was implemented regarding the design and the production of a sliding door trolley.