Conditions of supply are the required specifications for supplier-provided parts and components used in a product's design. Much more than a simple checklist, well-defined conditions of supply include a combination of visual models and textual documentation to provide manufacturers and other members of the product lifecycle management (PLM) team with all of the design data needed to properly assemble parts into a final product.
During the assembly process, visual guidance can make a significant difference in expediting a build. Companies can use specialized APS software to author robust conditions of supply that incorporate CAD models, animations, and technical data together in a way that clearly communicates the info suppliers need. Once digitized, conditions of supply can be shared throughout the enterprise or around the world to ensure consistency across PLM teams. Conditions of supply that are incompletely defined or difficult to interpret can result in engineering change orders, sluggish assembly times, or scrapped parts on the workshop floor.
The aerospace industry is known for its complex product designs, strict engineering tolerances, and rigorous quality assurance checks. For these reasons, conditions of supply are especially important for applications such as airframe manufacturing and aerospace component assembly so that the final products can be manufactured with minimal deviation from the intended design.
To help ensure a smooth path to the realization of the fully-assembled products, suppliers may integrate the conditions of supply into their component manufacturing process as a complete 3D model-based definition.