Project Background

Founded in 2015, Zhongke Lide is an intelligent integrated optoelectronic systems manufacturer incubated by the Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (XIOPM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Together with its subsidiary, Kejia Optoelectronics, the company employs over 380 staff and is dedicated to research and product development in intelligent optoelectronic technologies. To date, it has secured more than 100 intellectual property rights.

The company’s core technologies encompass long-range, high-precision multispectral intelligent imaging and measurement; development of complex optomechanical systems; precision optomechanical gimbals; and lightweight AI-enabled wide-field detection and recognition of small, dim targets. These capabilities have enabled Zhongke Lide to develop six major product lines: precision optomechanical components, optical lenses, infrared thermal imaging cameras, optical vision-guided pods, counter-drone optical radars, and satellite core components and payloads. Its products have been successfully integrated into solutions for over 50 well-known enterprises and institutions, earning widespread customer recognition.

Zhongke Lide is also equipped with over 600 advanced instruments and machines—including single-point diamond turning lathes, CNC polishing machines, profilometers, coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), interferometers, and full-system optoelectronic testing platforms—enabling end-to-end capabilities covering design, machining, integration, and testing of optoelectronic products.

The company has received numerous prestigious honors, including National Key “Specialized, Sophisticated, Distinctive, and Innovative” (SSDI) “Little Giant” Enterprise, National High-Tech Enterprise, National Intellectual Property Advantage Enterprise, Shaanxi Provincial “Hidden Champion” Enterprise, Core Member of the Shaanxi Photonics Industry Innovation Consortium, Xi’an “Gazelle” Enterprise, and Xi’an Hi-Tech Zone Potential Unicorn Enterprise.

Project Objectives

To enhance management standardization, improve product design efficiency and accuracy, Zhongke Lide has introduced the SIPM/PLM system to achieve platform-based and data-driven product design management. Through the implementation of the SIPM/PLM project, the following objectives will be achieved:

Standardize and institutionalize enterprise project management processes using built-in project management tools, enabling full visibility and control over product development schedules and ensuring complete and timely delivery of project outputs.

Establish and refine integrated 3D/2D design standards and specifications within the PLM environment, ensuring standardized and consistent engineering data at the source. All ongoing design data will be 100% compliant with the new standards and specifications, integrated into PLM through standardized methods. Engineering changes will be managed digitally to ensure accurate implementation and maintain data uniqueness throughout the R&D process.

Build an integrated product management model centered on the Bill of Materials (BOM) to enable precise association and management of technical documentation. Design data in PLM will serve as the single source of truth, eliminating offline handoffs. Standardized part numbering and material descriptions will be enforced to prevent “one code for multiple items” and minimize “one item with multiple codes.” A centralized design parts library will be established to increase part reuse and standardization.

Streamline enterprise information flow by enabling seamless data exchange between systems. Technical data will be directly connected to downstream business systems—such as ERP and MES—with materials, BOMs, and process data automatically transferred from PLM, eliminating manual transfers. Integration with Enterprise WeChat will enable cross-system message notifications and real-time collaboration.

Leverage PLM’s knowledge management capabilities to capture and accumulate design experience, gradually building a scientific and comprehensive knowledge repository. This will facilitate knowledge sharing across teams and continuously elevate the company’s R&D capabilities.

Overall Architecture of Zhongke Lide's Infrared PLM System

After jointly mapping out Zhongke Lide’s design business processes, the project teams from both sides have integrated the following modules into a unified architecture: project management, product design management, document and drawing management, change management, workflow management, ERP interface integration, CAD interface integration, Enterprise WeChat message integration, knowledge base management, standardization management, and coding management.

Basic Data Management

Through the management of various foundational databases in the SIPM/PLM system, Zhongke Lide has significantly enhanced the standardization and management level of its product design foundational data. The PLM platform enables designers to autonomously assign part numbers based on predefined rules, with encoding rules systematically embedded and managed in an orderly manner. Additionally, design knowledge bases, document templates, workflow designs, and other elements are centrally managed on a unified platform. Electronic signatures for drawings and documents are implemented via the signature management module.

Coding Management:Through the implementation of SIPM/PLM, the company has redefined its coding management standards and established a material and technical document coding scheme aligned with its operational requirements. Automatic code generation within SIPM/PLM ensures a "one-item-one-code" principle, eliminating duplication and ambiguity.

Coding Management

Knowledge Base:By leveraging the SIPM/PLM knowledge management module, the company has established an enterprise knowledge base to systematically capture and accumulate institutional knowledge. This enables real-time sharing and efficient knowledge transfer across teams. Additionally, a well-structured incentive and evaluation mechanism has been implemented to ensure the continuous enrichment and maintenance of the knowledge base.

Knowledge Base

Document Templates:Using the SIPM/PLM standardization management module, the company has established a centralized document template library, enabling unified and standardized management of files and drawing templates. During design work, users can directly invoke templates from this library when creating Excel or Word documents.
Each template is paired with a corresponding sample document (exemplar), and the system manages the association between templates and their samples. This allows users to quickly reference the sample content when selecting a template, facilitating efficient document creation. Users can also directly adapt the sample to rapidly generate finalized instance documents.

Document Templates

Process Management:By analyzing and streamlining the company’s existing product design review workflows, these processes have been standardized and embedded into the PLM system. This enables convenient real-time tracking during execution and precise traceability after completion, providing a critical foundation for future process optimization and improvement.

Process Template

Process Monitoring

Electronic Signature Management:Through integration with CAD and by leveraging a CAD-integrated plugin, drawings are automatically converted to PDF format and electronically signed based on objective information from the system’s approval workflow. This establishes a solid data foundation for paperless operations.

Project Process Management

Based on the company’s current business operations, an overall project management framework has been designed to align with its product development processes. This framework has been standardized and embedded into the SIPM/PLM system.

Task Management:The traditional offline task assignment approach has been replaced with a fully digital workflow. All tasks are now assigned online, and upon completion, deliverables submitted through tasks are automatically collected and linked to the corresponding project, ensuring completeness and traceability of all project documentation.

Project Deliverables

Project Monitoring:Project control tasks are automatically assigned, providing clear visibility into project status and task execution progress at a glance. Multi-dimensional statistical analysis of project outcomes delivers reliable data to support management improvements.

Project Monitoring

Reporting and Statistics:Working hours and performance are managed and tracked online. Through the reporting functionality, timesheet reports can be generated with a single click and used as the basis for monthly performance evaluations. This eliminates manual offline data collection, significantly improving both the convenience and accuracy of timesheet statistics.

Business Data Management

Product Management:Implements categorized and centralized product management, providing the R&D department with a unified platform for managing product data.

Product Classification Management

BOM Management:Using the Bill of Materials (BOM) as the central link, materials, drawings, documents, and other technical files are managed in an integrated manner. Product data is structured so that each component is precisely associated with its corresponding drawings and documents, facilitating easy search, reference, and reuse during design.

BOM Management

Design Software Interface Management:Through design software interface management, the business data flow between 3D CAD and the PLM system has been fully connected, enabling seamless integration and bidirectional synchronization of design data between the CAD environment and the PLM system.

Design Drawing Management

Process Management:Manages information related to standard operations, equipment, tooling, and other elements involved in the process design workflow. This establishes systematic libraries—including a standard operations library, equipment library, and tooling library—that can be directly referenced during process planning. For complex operations, the system supports breaking them down into individual work steps for granular management.

Equipment Library

Process Route

Change Management:The system automatically records the revision history of all data in real time, creating a comprehensive change log. Through this change log management, the entire history of technical data modifications becomes fully traceable.

Change Management

ERP Integration Management:PLM sends product-related material and BOM information to the PBOM package according to predefined business logic and then uploads it to the ERP system via ERP interface calls.

PBOM Package

Drawing and Document Interface Integration Management:PLM provides standardized interfaces for drawings, technical documents, and other files, which can be accessed on-demand by the MES system, enabling paperless shop floor management.

Enterprise WeChat Message Integration:Approval and review notifications from PLM are synchronized and pushed to Enterprise WeChat in real time, significantly improving message delivery speed and review efficiency.

Access Control Management:Through the system’s permission management functionality, enterprise data is securely and systematically shared, ensuring controlled access while maintaining data security.

Access Control Management

Conclusion

Data standardization is an indispensable step in enterprise digital transformation and a prerequisite for entering the data-driven era. Every organization’s data governance journey is unique, requiring careful consideration of its specific structure, culture, environment, and available resources.

Leveraging SIPM’s professional services and accumulated industry experience, companies no longer need to start from scratch in data standardization. Instead, they can build upon proven best practices—standing on the shoulders of others—to avoid redundant efforts, gain broader perspectives, and achieve more sustainable and far-reaching progress.

The success of data management ultimately hinges on a rational and effective organizational structure and well-defined processes. Therefore, equal emphasis must be placed on establishing supporting organizational frameworks and workflows for data quality management. The SIPM/PLM system embodies Zhongke Lide’s comprehensive approach to enterprise informatization, seamlessly integrating R&D management from design through production, and providing a robust foundation for the company’s ongoing growth and evolution.

The SIPM professional services team will continue to spare no effort in providing long-term, routine, and comprehensive support and assurance for Zhongke Lide's enterprise data governance initiatives.