Oracle Product Lifecycle Management

What is PLM, or Product Life Cycle Management? Good question and one we should define before we help you: decide if you need it, explain how it can help you and figure out what parts of it you need - or don't need. Product Lifecycle Management can be interpreted in numerous ways. Leading authorities provide their own interpretation of PLM, a variety of which are listed below:

"PLM is a strategic business approach that applies a consistent set of business solutions in support of the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information across the extended enterprise, and spanning from product concept to end of life-integrating people, processes, business systems, and information. PLM forms the product information backbone for a company and its extended enterprise." Source:  CIMdata

"Product life cycle management or PLM is an all-encompassing approach for innovation, new product development and introduction (NPDI) and product information management from ideation to end of life. PLM Systems as an enabling technology for PLM integrate people, data, processes, and business systems and provide a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise." Source:  PLM Technology Guide

"The core of PLM (product life cycle management) is in the creations and central management of all product data and the technology used to access this information and knowledge. PLM as a discipline emerged from tools such as CAD, CAM and PDM, but can be viewed as the integration of these tools with methods, people and the processes through all stages of a product's life." Source:  Wikipedia article on Product Lifecycle Management

"Product life cycle management is the process of managing product-related design, production and maintenance information. PLM may also serve as the central repository for secondary information, such as vendor application notes, catalogs, customer feedback, marketing plans, archived project schedules, and other information acquired over the product's life." Source:  Product Lifecycle Management

"It is important to note that PLM is not a definition of a piece, or pieces, of technology. It is a definition of a business approach to solving the problem of managing the complete set of product definition information-creating that information, managing it through its life, and disseminating and using it throughout the lifecycle of the product. PLM is not just a technology, but is an approach in which processes are as important, or more important than data." Source:  CIMdata

"PLM or Product Life cycle Management is a process or system used to manage the data and design process associated with the life of a product from its conception and envisioning through its manufacture, to its retirement and disposal. PLM manages data, people, business processes, manufacturing processes, and anything else pertaining to a product. A PLM system acts as a central information hub for everyone associated with a given product, so a well-managed PLM system can streamline product development and facilitate easier communication among those working on/with a product. Source:  Aras

Oracle Service Management solution

Service management is integrated into supply chain management as the intersection between the actual sales and the customer. The aim of high performance service management is to optimize the service-intensive supply chains, which are usually more complex than the typical finished-goods supply chain. Most service-intensive supply chains require larger inventories and tighter integration with field service and third parties. They also must accommodate inconsistent and uncertain demand by establishing more advanced information and product flows. Moreover, all processes must be coordinated across numerous service locations with large numbers of parts and multiple levels in the supply chain.
Among typical manufacturers, post-sale services (maintenance, repair and parts) comprise less than 20 percent of revenue. But among the most innovative companies in Service, those same activities often generate more than 50 percent of the profits.  (source - Wikipedia )

Oracle Purchase Requisition / Pur req / Purchase Requisition

Oracle Purchasing is the application for professional buyers that streamlines purchase order processing while strengthening policy compliance. It is a key component of Oracle Advanced Procurement
According to independent experts the key to achieving world class procurement performance lies in using technology to automate routine tasks. This frees procurement professionals to work on more strategic tasks related to sourcing and supplier management. Oracle Purchasing does just that. It automates purchasing to make buyers more productive, improves management of your supply base, and adapts to virtually any procurement process.
As the heart of the Oracle Advanced Procurement suite, Oracle Purchasing provides a rich store of policy and supplier information, an enterprise class automation platform, and a robust workbench for buying professionals.

- Source (www.oracle.com)

Oracle Steel Making Flow Lines / Steel Manufacturing Process

Steel is an alloy of iron and other elements, principally carbon. When carbon is the primary alloying element, its content in the steel is between 0.002% and 2.1% by weight. The following elements are always present in steel: carbon, manganese, phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, and traces of oxygen, nitrogen and aluminum. Alloying elements intentionally added to modify the characteristics of steel are: manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, boron, titanium, vanadium and niobium.^[1]
Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing dislocations in the iron atom crystal lattice from sliding past one another. Varying the amount of alloying elements and the form of their presence in the steel (solute elements, precipitated phase) controls qualities such as the hardness, ductility, and tensile strength of the resulting steel. Steel with increased carbon content can be made harder and stronger than iron, but such steel is also less ductile than iron.
Alloys with a higher than 2.1% carbon content are known as cast iron because of their lower melting point and good castability.^[1] Steel is also distinguishable from wrought iron, which can contain a small amount of carbon, but it is included in the form of slag inclusions.^{[citation needed]}
Though steel had been produced by various inefficient methods long before the Renaissance, its use became more common after more efficient production methods were devised in the 17th century. With the invention of the Bessemer process in the mid-19th century, steel became an inexpensive mass-produced material. Further refinements in the process, such as basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), lowered the cost of production while increasing the quality of the metal. Today, steel is one of the most common materials in the world, with more than 1.3 billion tons produced annually. It is a major component in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons. Modern steel is generally identified by various grades defined by assorted standards organizations. - (Source :Wikipedia)