Product Data Management Overview

To understand the critical role that product data management plays in the business, you must understand the ways in which product data affects businesses and how businesses can more efficiently track, manage, and maintain product data.

Today's customers want specialized products and short leadtimes from ordering to the delivery of a product. Manufacturers want to respond to the pressure and opportunities that are presented by their customers' needs. The industry currently struggles with manual paperwork, slow response times, lack of systems integration, and product volume versus complexity. Manufacturers need agility to provide specialized products at competitive prices.

To be agile, manufacturers require a method of creating and maintaining critical product information. Manufacturers must then communicate this critical information to the rest of the organization. A company's sales, manufacturing, and service organizations need a fast, accurate, and reliable system. With today's integrated systems, product data management is crucial throughout the organization. Creating product data that meets the needs of various groups and insures accurate data within the organization is vitally important.

The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Product Data Management system enables you to integrate all of the aspects of product data with the rest of the business operations. This system provides basic data for other manufacturing systems. You must verify that the product data is accurate to ensure the efficiency of associated systems, such as JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Shop Floor Management and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Requirements Planning.

Accuracy of bills of material, routings, and work center information is essential to the system's overall integrity. Accuracy can be increased and maintained by cross-functional teams if they review new products, product changes, and process changes, as well as bills of material, routings, work center information, and the engineering change management process.

The JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Product Data Management system lets you track the fundamental information that is required to manufacture components, subassemblies, and end-item products. It includes bills of material, routings, work centers, and engineering change management.