The management of digital sketches through PLM solutions

To manufacture successful products, companies are reliant on an efficient information and knowledge backbone. Within this context, this paper reports a preliminary investigation into the management and archival of early design information which typically manifests itself through a graphical format - sketches. Although a number of technologies enable the creation of digital sketches, this highly valuable company knowledge often remains paper-based and is then discarded once the final product solution is selected. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems offer new perspectives for the efficient management of information across the life of a product. Nevertheless, these new capabilities stem from an engineering perspective and have not been tailored for the designers' needs. The authors therefore propose a preliminary classification of sketches in order to ease their management and storage in PLM systems. Integration scenarios are also suggested using current PLM capabilities and the observed limitations highlight the necessary requirements to stretch these information management systems towards a more complete solution for all stakeholders involved.