Special section: CSCWD 2006 interfacing heterogeneous PDM systems using the PLM Services

A PDM (Product Data Management) system allows improved management of the engineering process through better control of engineering data, engineering activities, engineering changes and product configurations. There are different commercial PDM systems and each company uses a PDM that supports the company's needs. To collaborate with parts' suppliers, companies frequently need to interface their PDM systems with those of their suppliers. There are two ways of interface: direct translation between PDM systems and translation based on a standard format. In this study two different PDM systems are interfaced based on the PLM Services standard of OMG (www.omg.org), which is itself based on Web Services. The PLM Services enables the data exchange via the Internet. The main objective of implementation is to use the PLM Services standard for PDM data exchange via Internet.