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Turnkey PDM with Metaphase Power
(MetaKON)
Engineering Workflow from Product Development to Production Logistics
The cost- and time-effective implementation of Product Data Management (PDM)
systems is of strategic importance for optimizing key processes in corporations worldwide.
Normally, considerable configuration and implementation effort must be performed
before modern object-oriented PDM systems can be productively used. The MetaKONTM product, a turnkey solution that
encapsulates the market leading MetaphaseTM
system, can alleviate these difficulties... and get your PDM installation up-and-running
in weeks rather than months or years.
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Web-based Full-Power PDM
 And
now these functionalities are made available directly from the
user's web browser with eMetaKON,
our web-based full-power PDM solution! eMetaKON
addresses the needs of companies wishing to leverage a
comprehensive, pre-configured PDM solution directly from their web
browser. Interactive functions are accelerated with a modern,
easy-to-use Java2-based user interface. The eMetaKON user
interface can be further tailored to best match the various
application profiles, optimizing the learnability and productivity
for each user group. The user’s
individual profile is maintained within the clear and consistent
window layout, assuring a comfortable and successful introduction to
the world of PDM. Creating and searching
for objects such as folders, documents, parts and drawings is simple
with eMetaKON. With one mouse click of the object, the user has
immediate access to all attributes and related data. At the same
time, eMetaKON provides a clear overview of even the largest and
most intricate data sites.
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If you're new to the PDM area, check out our Introduction
to PDM Strategy.
MetaKON provides this breakthrough ease of implementation by delivering a number
of pre-configured (MetaKON = Metaphase Pre-KONfigured) applications built
upon the openness and power of Metaphase.
MetaKON has a modular structure comprising
the following components:
Drawing Management System (DrMS) can be
used to manage all drawings and documents throughout the company, including digital paper
drawings with change and release procedures. Each drawing is filed together with a drawing
master record, to which any number of drawing sheets and other documents of various types
can be assigned by means of relations. The relation chain can be represented graphically
as a tree structure at any time. Extensive search functions are available for the complete
set of drawings, so that if solutions have already been found for specific problems, they
can be accessed again fast. The master drawing principle supported by MetaKON DMS not only
enables turnaround times to be reduced, but also allows a "zero defects"
strategy to be implemented.
Document Management System (DoMS) can be used to manage all standard
documents (specification sheets, project reports, spreadsheets, etc). A direct
interface with Microsoft Office is available with MetaKON.
Parts Management System (PMS) enables all the product components -
whether single parts or assemblies and standard parts or special parts - to be entered and
managed together with their design-specific master record data. This data serves as the
basis for building hierarchical product structures. Extremely complex products are thus
given a transparent structure and custom solutions become simple to configure.
Characteristics Tables (CL) supports the classification and
harmonization of standard parts in accordance with DIN 4000/4001. Its efficient parts
management concept and its extensive research functions are the key to a significant
reduction in part variety as well as to productive utilization of the variant method.
Bill-of-Material (BOM) facilitates the adoption of the CAD model and
automatic building of the product structure in Metaphase as well as the derivation of the
parts list in configurable DIN formats.
Global Interface (GIF) is a universal data
communications module that serves interprocess communication with external systems based
on the ISO STEP specification.
The MetaKON PMS and CL modules together represent a very
powerful parts management system with master parts management and repeat part
classification functions, which in conjunction with CAD systems permits graphical,
part-oriented assembly and product modeling, makes the product components available to the
ERP/MRP system via the MetaKON BOM module and provides the production logistics system
with the necessary data for work planning as well as the interface to the machine and
process levels.
The CAD interface enables meta data and identifiers for physical data to be exchanged
between MetaKON and the integrated CAD system according to functional criteria in either
one or two directions. The interaction of and communication between the PDM and CAD
systems is controlled at the operating system level.
| All the MetaKON modules can be
used separately, so that PDM can be introduced at an acceptable cost, for example in the
form of the Drawing Management System. The full version of MetaKON maps the logical
sequence of work steps (engineering workflow) in development and design, and guides the
user through his or her specific tasks. A consistent product data model is thus built up
automatically, step by step, during the development or design process. |
The consistent use of MetaKON in the integration with a
relational CAD system forms the basis for a significant reduction in part variety as well
as in product development and turnaround times, and thus enables a substantial increase to
be achieved in development and design efficiency.
Experience with Metaphase projects has shown that a period of
at least two man years with expert Metaphase programmers is necessary to implement
"vanilla" Metaphase functions of this complexity. The MetaKON
encapsulation of Metaphase has been shown to deliver enormous time and cost savings.
MetaKON is a global PDM solution that allows Metaphase and
its functional scope to be utilized quickly and productively, even in smaller
installations, which in the past has often been problematic owing to the high cost of
configuration and customizing services.
Platform Availability -- MetaKON is
available on all Metaphase hardware platforms including:
 | Unix workstations (HP, SGI, Sun) |
| Windows 95 and Windows NT workstations |
Detailed Module Descriptions
Click here for to review our Proposal for a MetaKON Pilot Project.
WAMware and its affiliates are authorized resellers of MetaKON, a product
developed by ECS GmbH, Germany.
WAMware is a registered trademark of WAMware Ltd.,
MetaKON a registered trademark of ECS GmbH, and Metaphase a registered trademark of
Metaphase Technology, Inc. |
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