An Integrated Software Architecture for Rapid Product Development Processes

Abstract

In the complex process of product development, the ongoing distribution of processes and globalization of markets force companies to implement means of cooperation between partners at remote sites and coordination of tasks. In this paper we describe a distributed software architecture which provides an integrated set of tools for a wide range of Rapid Product Development processes. The centrat component is an active knowledge base called ASN (Active Semantic Network) which is used as shared data repository and team process coordination and upon which the other components of the system operate. The seenarios described are coming from the car manufacturing area ranging from collaborative development

Advanced database approach for cooperative product design

“…The ASN is a central component of an integrated software architecture for design processes presented in Eck et al, (1998). The overall goal of the ASN is to support developers in product design and to help to make the design process more ef cient.…”