Engineering data integration is software that joins the designs, parts lists and test results that an aerospace or defence maker keeps in dozens of separate systems into one connected record. A maker of aircraft or missiles builds products that stay in use for decades, and its records must stay traceable for as long. It is also called engineering data management.
Consider an aircraft maker in Bengaluru that has changed the design of a wing bracket. The 3D design is in a product lifecycle management (PLM) system. The parts list, with the supplier and batch of each bolt, is in another system. The strength test results are in files kept by the test laboratory. An engineer who needs to certify the change must find the design, the parts and the tests for the same version of the bracket. Done by hand, this means searching three systems and matching part numbers.
The integration software does this matching once. It has a connector for each system, which reads the records without changing them. It joins the records through the part number and the version number, which engineers call the revision. Then the engineer can ask: "show every test done on version C of this bracket, and the batches of metal used." The answer comes from the one connected record. Because the record follows the product from design to test, it is part of what is called the digital thread.
The same record answers questions that arise years later. If a supplier reports that one batch of metal was faulty, the quality team can ask which parts were made from it, and which aircraft carry those parts. This is track and trace. The record also supports safety certification, because the regulator asks the maker to show, for each design change, the tests that prove it is safe. In India, civil aircraft are certified under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Military aircraft are certified by the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC). Defence makers also control who may see a record, as in defence electronics.
PLM is one of the systems that this software reads. It does not replace PLM. It sits across PLM and the other systems that PLM does not cover.
The software depends on clean part numbers and names. If the same part has two numbers, the join fails. So it often works with master data management (MDM), which keeps one agreed record for each part. It also reads drawings from plant design software when the product is a plant or a ship. The records it joins end up in aircraft manufacturing work, and the connected data can be passed to an industrial data platform.