Concurrent Engineering

The major project goal of the ISTforCE project is to provide an open, human-centered Web-based collaboration environment which supports concurrent engineering while working on multiple projects simultaneously and offers easy access to specialized engineering services distributed over the Web. Normally, engineering applications are bought and then installed and used locally, but in the last years there is a growing interest, especially by small, highly specialised vendors, to offer such applications on rental or "pay per use" basis. The main innovation of ISTforCE is in the human-centred approach enabling the integration of multiple applications and services for multiple users and on multi-project basis. This should lead to support the work of each user across projects and team boundaries and to establish a common platform where providers of software and end users (engineers, architects, technicians, project managers) can meet. This paper will focus on three specific aspects of the ISTforCE project. The first addresses product data models also referred to as Building Information Models (BIMs) given the specific scope of the application domain dealt with and also covers the contribution of ISTforCE to standardization activities, either within the frame of ISO / STEP or of the IAI and the development of the Industry Foundation Classes. The second will address part of the software architecture designed to support concurrent engineering activities with the development of the Product Data server (PDS) and finally we will cover AI based applications, more specifically in the area of automated building conformance checking (CCS).

Nowadays complex product developments involving numerous actors make more crucial the elaboration of an infrastructure for the N Virtual Enterprise U (VE). New emerging technology such as STEP for representation and exchange of product data, or CORBA in the objectoriented distribution field, are designated to be potential cornerstones in the deployment of concurrent engineering in the future VE. This paper aims at investigating the integration of STEP and CORBA as a ground for VE computer-based infrastructure', and at showing their complementarity for applications interoperability. This integration relies on a middleware supported by an Object Request Broker as introduced in CORBA, for STEP product data distribution and concurrent access in the framework of remote heterogeneous applications.

Today, it can be maintained that the customer is a ‘king’ as he will buy only the products that satisfy his needs and wants. The companies of today are facing new challenges: global business and local operation, standardization, and individualization of products, demanding customers and fierce competition. The company wants to achieve shorter product development time, lower costs, high quality of the product, and finally, customer satisfaction. In order to achieve the set goals, the company has to take into account the customers wants and needs during the new-product-development process. This article presents the mode of description of processes that allow recognition of suitable natural systems and their transformation into technical systems and a model for management of development process. The phases of quality functions deployment (QFD) during the new product development process along with the location for collecting customer needs and wants are presented. A detailed description...

In an operational situation companies both deliver and develop products, with continuous demands for shorter cycle times. This increases the importance of learning. It is argued here that companies do not fully exploit their experience from previous projects. The same mistakes tend to occur from project to project. Yet it is shown with the help of empirical evidence, from five product development projects, that by introducing simple managerial principles which activate organisational learning, companies can improve their efficiency. I1 is also argued that modem and interactive communication tools provide a means for managing and acquiring a better understanding of physically dispersed product development and manufacturing operations. It is concluded that by establishing clear documentation protocols to track the evolution of the product during its life cycle and by exploiting the modem communication media to implement simple managerial principles, project management can master the dispersed multi-project environment of today's manufacturing companies better. At its best, organisational learning can be a continuous and self-feeding process catalysed by advanced on-line metrics visualising the product development process.

With the advent of Concurrent Engineering (CE), the engineering product design process has c h g e d substantially. Different factors of the product life cycle, such as the manufacturing process, part assembly and quality control, can now all be simultaneously involved in the design phase. To achieve CE traditional Computer-Aided Design systems are inadequate. Cooperative product design needs more powerful modelling techniques and geometric representation schemes than those offered by actual commercial CAD systems. I n this paper a multiple-view CAD representation, called Intermediate Model, is presented. The Intermediate Model has been defined with the aim to upgrade a traditional CAD system to a feature-based modelling system which allows to represent different context dependent views of the product.

We describe a methodology for making the decisions associated with the concurrent engineering of a product and its downstream field support. We adopt, for the overall metrics for evaluating these decisions, long-run system availability and life-cycle cost. The decisions that constitute the concurrent engineering effort can be categorized into three phases: designing the product; designing the manufacturing and logistics systems; and setting operations-control policies for parts production and field support. As an enhancement to well-established methods of coordinating decision makers in concurrent engineering and sharing data across different phases of design and deployment, we have developed a methodology that simultaneously makes the decisions that constitute these phases. This methodology is based on a dynamic programming model of these decisions which is robust and efficient when compared to manual methods of coordinating the concurrent engineering effort. We recommend its use as a decision support mechanism, not as a substitute for interaction among design-team members.

Algorithms, criteria forming of the optimal technological process structure and parameters, the advantages and disadvantages of the objectoriented and functional-oriented preproduction engineering planning are given. Implementation of cutting processes rheological simulation (Computer Aided Forming) and concurrent engineering for Product Life Management System realization are proposed.

The paper provides a comprehensive insight into current trends and developments in Concurrent Engineering for integrated development of products and processes with the goal of completing the entire cycle in a shorter time, at lower overall cost and with fewer engineering design changes after product launch. The evolution and definition of Concurrent Engineering are addressed first, followed by a concise review of the elements of the concurrent engineering approach to product development and the economics of the same. Discussion of teamwork for successful concurrent engineering, with deployment strategies is included.

Expert Judgement (EJ) is used extensively during the generation of cost estimates. Cost estimators have to make numerous assumptions and judgements about what they think a new product will cost. However, the use of EJ is often frowned upon, not well accepted or understood by non-cost estimators within a concurrent engineering environment. Computerised cost models, in many ways, have reduced the need for EJ but by no means have they, or can they, replace it.

The concurrent design of materials and products provides designers with flexibility to achieve design objectives that were not previously accessible. However, the improved flexibility comes at a cost of increased complexity of the design process chains and the materials simulation models used for executing the design chains. Efforts to reduce the complexity generally result in increased uncertainty. We contend that a systems based approach is essential for managing both the complexity and the uncertainty in design process chains and simulation models in concurrent material and product design. Our approach is based on simplifying the design process chains systematically such that the resulting uncertainty does not significantly affect the overall system performance. Similarly, instead of striving for accurate models for multiscale systems (that are inherently complex), we rely on making design decisions that are robust to uncertainties in the models. Accordingly, we pursue hierarchical modeling in the context of design of multiscale systems. In this paper our focus is on design process chains. We present a systems based approach, premised on the assumption that complex systems can be designed efficiently by managing the complexity of design process chains. The approach relies on a) the use of reusable interaction patterns to model design process chains, and b) consideration of design process decisions using value-of-information based metrics. The approach is illustrated using a Multifunctional Energetic Structural Material (MESM) design example. Energetic materials store considerable energy which can be released through shock-induced detonation; conventionally, they are not engineered for strength properties. The design objectives for the MESM in this paper include both sufficient strength and energy release characteristics. The design is carried out by using models at different length and time scales that simulate different aspects of the system. Finally, by applying the method to the MESM design problem, we show that the integrated design of materials and products can be carried out more efficiently by explicitly accounting for design process decisions with the hierarchy of models.

Everyday the companies make strategic business decisions to improve their position in the market. They examine the business value chain to improve the product innovation, customer intimacy, and operational efficiency. Product development is one of the key weapons in the war for a competitive advantage. Policy in product development is in the form of five 'rights', viz. the right information, in the right format, for the right people, in the right location, and at the right time. The design and development of the product in small-scale and large-scale industries are managed with CAD/CAM/CAE systems. All the systems are heterogeneous. The Standard for the Exchange of Product (STEP) model data [1] is used as the standard format for models created in the CAD/CAM/CAE systems. In this research, an interface program to communicate the product data in the client/server environment has been developed. The interface program converts the STEP file into an XML file. The XML format is the lightweight web-based communication format. With a properly secured web page communication for different users in the enterprise, the authors achieve the concurrent engineering environment throughout the product life cycle.

Successfully implementing concurrent development to reduce cycle time has proven difficult due to unanticipated iterations. We develop a dynamic project model that explicitly models these interactions to investigate the causes of the ''90% syndrome,'' a common form of schedule failure in concurrent development. We find that increasing concurrence and common managerial responses to schedule pressure aggravate the syndrome and degrade schedule performance and project quality. We show how understanding of and policies to avoid the 90% syndrome require integration of the technical attributes of the project, the flows of information among participants, and the behavioral decisionmaking heuristics participants use to respond to unanticipated problems and perturbations.

Responsible Life Cycle Management (LCM) of mines has received much attention in the South African legislation. However, there is currently a mis-alignment between the mining industry and the various government authorities pertaining to the issue of mine closure or end-of-life management. The main reasons for this are unclear and unformulated approaches to rehabilitation with a subsequent legacy of unsuccessful mine closures that have wrongly been issued by the government from a sustainability perspective; this has posed an excessive economical burden for the mining industry. In this paper, a Mine Closure Model (MCM) based on project management principles, including risk management and concurrent engineering, is proposed to manage the closure process and assist the governing body with the effective evaluation of closures and the issuance of certificates. Mine closure or rehabilitation objectives can be achieved whilst managing the resources (of industry) optimally and aligning the closure process to meet the end requirements of stakeholder groups.

This paper presents the results of case study research conducted at a major U S . automotive firm. Four waves of qualitative data were collected to identify the organizational and technological changes needed to implement concurrent engineering practices. The desire to cut product development time was the driving factor in a strategy designed to boost sales and market share. The company was successful in shortening concept-tomarket time by over one year on its first newly designed vehicle, primarily through the use of product-focused, cross-functional platform teams which permitted the early integration of manufacturing personnel into product and process development. While technology played an important role in this transformation, organizational, and human resource changes were the greatest enablers.

The design and maintenance of complex engineering systems such as a jet engine generates a significant amount of documentation. Increasingly, aerospace manufacturers are shifting their focus from selling products to providing services. As a result, when designing new products, engineers must increasingly consider the engine's complete life-cycle as part of the design process. To identify possible areas of concern, engineers must obtain knowledge gained from the entire life of similar engines. However, because of the size and distributed nature of the company's operation, engineers often do not have access to front-line maintenance data. In addition, the large number of documents accrued makes it impossible for them to be examined thoroughly. This paper presents a prototype knowledge-based document repository for such an application. It searches and analyzes distributed document resources, and provides engineers with a summary view of the underlying knowledge. The aim is to allow engineers to incorporate maintenance issues into the initial design. Unlike existing document repositories and digital libraries, our approach is knowledge-based, where users browse summary reports instead of following suggested links. To test the validity of our proposed architecture, we have developed and deployed a working prototype.

This paper describes a methodology to integrate design and manufacturing using feature recognition technique for achieving some concurrent engineering goals. the input of the feature recognition is the boundary representation (B-Rep) of solid models. The features considered in this work are protrusion and depression type of prismatic components. the feature's faces are planar, cylindrical and hybrid. The recognized features are to be used for downstream manufacturing application

Managers of today's capital projects are under pressure to complete complex projects under conditions of uncertainty in less time, without sacrifice to cost and quality and without leaving customers and users dissatisfied. Studying particularly skillful managers who are able to meet this challenge, the authors found a style of management that shifts away significantly from accepted practices and routines. Master project managers move beyond classical scheduling, teamwork and concurrent engineering. They develop a new style of simultaneous management in which they constantly orchestrate contending demands. This paper presents the principles employed by master project managers to: lead and navigate the project in a turbulent environment; form multidisciplinary teams; handle all functional plans simultaneously and interdependently; overlap design and execution; develop and maintain intensive project communication; and monitor simultaneously the utilization of means, the achievement of objectives and their validity.

Supplier selection plays a vital role in the process of product development. The purpose of this research is to integrate the state of the art Web technologies with business theories to establish a Web-based distributed environment for supplier selection. A Web Services-oriented multipossibility supplier selection system has been developed, which helps manufacturers to make decisions for selecting supplier more effectively and accurately. The business theories and analytic hierarchy process approach have been applied in combination with Web Services and J2EE Technology in the system. In this paper, a brief review of the current supplier selection issues are addressed first, followed by the presentation of the methodologies employed and description of the system structure and main features, an example is given in the end.

As a complex method for manufacturing and development, concurrent engineering has been studied and implemented extensively in the manufacturing industry to speed up production schedules and to reduce costs. One of the tools used in concurrent engineering is computer-aided design or CAD in short. CAD applications in multifunctional knowledge distribution refer to the use of CAD to provide information to di®erent groups of employees in their organisation to sustain new product development activities. Similarly, the move towards knowledgebased competition ampli¯es the importance of bridging actions in addition to tactical coalitions where key role of institutional knowledge, system improvement and knowledge sharing are focussed on. However, very few studies have been conducted on the use of CAD and knowledge management in in°uencing concurrent engineering project performance in Malaysian man-ufacturing¯rms. Hence, this study focusses on determining the nature of the relationship between CAD use and knowledge management with concurrent engineering project performance in a Malaysian manufacturing¯rm. A survey was conducted within the¯rm, yielding a total of 226 usable responses that were then analysed using SPSS. The¯ndings indicate that there is a sig-ni¯cant positive relationship between CAD use and knowledge management and concurrent engineering project performance. In addition, CAD use for cross-functional information sharing together with the three knowledge management processesinternalisation, combination and externalisation can explain 55.3% of the variance in concurrent engineering project performance. An interesting¯nding of this study based on the multiple regression analysis conducted is that the use of CAD for engineering design and socialisation are not signi¯cant in in°uencing concurrent engineering project performance. In practice, this¯nding is relevant because when coupled with CAD use, knowledge management approaches that are more externalisation, combination and internalisation-orientated are often practiced if compared to socialisation-orientated activities.

This paper proposes a goal-programming modeling approach to address three-dimensional concurrent engineering (3D-CE) problems involving product, process and supply chain design. The model enables straightforward representation of the interrelations among multiple objectives and analysis of tradeoffs among those that exhibit conflicts. The model is demonstrated through a discussion of integrality versus modularity in product and supply chain designs that is motivated by events that took place in the automotive industry over the last decade. A numerical example is used to illustrate the model and the paper concludes with possible extensions and guidelines for implementation. #

Concurrent engineering (CE) principles have considerably matured over the last decade. However, many companies still face enormous challenges when implementing and managing CE practices. This is due to the increased complexity of engineering products and processes, on one hand, and the lack of corresponding CE models and tools, on the other hand.

This study is about the influence of integration and coordination of organisational mechanisms on the effectiveness of the process of product development by cross-functional teams. The sample consists of 50 cross-national Concurrent Engineering (CE) project teams, from companies in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, UK, and USA, in the technology intensive industries of aerospace, automobile, chemical, computer, electronics, shipbuilding, and telecommunications. The study offers a diagnostic tool which measures the effectiveness of the Concurrent Engineering team's process in terms of the behaviours and attitudes of the engineeringaR&D and manufacturing representatives on the product development team: (a) two-way communication, (b) overlapping problems-solving, (c) readiness to use uncertain and ambiguous information released by team counterparts for decision-making, and (d) readiness to release uncertain and ambiguous information to team counterparts. The findings of the study are that integration mechanisms, such as team-based rewards and job rotation, and coordination mechanisms, such as project structure and information technology, and project leader's management style, support an effective team process, and overcome the negative effect of geographic distance and time-difference in cross-national teams. In addition, there are interesting implications for organisational learning in the practice of Concurrent Engineering for product development, and of the implications of these findings for practice and future research.

Agile and flexible manufacturing system makes it mandatory that a control program should have a features such as agility, flexibility, and reusability in order to meet fast changing customer demands. Proper modeling and fast formation of the control logics using graphical and mathematical tools is one of the most peculiar ways to make the control logic more feasible for rapid product prototyping, concurrent engineering, flexible, and agile manufacturing. This paper illustrates efficient conversion of Petri nets model into programmable logic controller like LLD (Ladder Logic Diagram) in a very convenient way using one-to-one mapping technique. Furthermore, property analysis has been briefly explained to generate flawless control code for better operational performance. An example of painting robots has been demonstrated to prove the proposed method.

Under the right circumstances, teams that use professional facilitators and Group Support Systems (GSS) experience significant gains in productivity and quality of work life. However, because of the expense, facilitators are not available to many teams that could benefit from their interventions. The emerging field of Collaboration Engineering aims to formulate an approach for designing high-value recurring collaboration processes that capture the best practices of master facilitators and packaging the processes in a fashion that can be transferred to practitioners to execute for themselves without the ongoing intervention of professional facilitators. Towards that end, Collaboration Engineering researchers have developed thinkLets, an Alexandrian design pattern language. A thinkLet is a named, packaged facilitation technique, captured as a pattern that collaboration engineers can incorporate into process designs. These patterns can be instantiated at design time in such a way that a practitioner can use them to recreate a predictable pattern of collaboration. This paper articulates the details of thinkLet design patterns and explains the utility that facilitators, collaboration engineers, researchers and practitioners are deriving from thinkLets in the field. It examines the parallels and differences among the goals and structures of the thinkLets pattern language, Alexander's architectural patterns and software design patterns. She is an experienced facilitator of ThinkLets-based Group Support Systems workshop, having worked with numerous public and private organisations. Her research focuses on the quality of thinkLet-based collaboration process design for complex tasks. She developed the first example of Computer Supported Collaboration Engineering (CSCE) technology -an integrated support suite to assist collaboration engineers in process design. Her research has been presented at the Hawaiian International Conference on System Sciences and CRIWG.

To be competitive on an increasingly competitive global market, companies must be better at quickly developing innovations and new product platforms. Particularly for companies with short product life cycles, it is important to quickly and safely develop new products and new product platforms that fulfill reasonable demands on quality, performance, and cost. Unfortunately, classical methods such as Integrated Product Development (IPD), Concurrent Engineering (CE), and Simultaneous Engineering (SE) were developed for re-engineering of existing products, and have written reports and project reviews at discrete points (at the gates) as feedback principles, which for all types of development means fragmented information, delayed information, and reactive management. Dynamic Product Development (DPD) has a different mindset and is the product concept developed as long as a project runs and not just before engineering starts. Feedback is in DPD based on management participation for immediate and qualitative information, which facilitates control and guidance in real time, reducing unwanted surprises to low levels. Frequent solution iteration (making almost right and quickly testing the solutions) is in DPD important, which is opposite to classical methods. High demands on creativity, development time, usability, cost, and quality have in practical tests shown to be satisfied using DPD.

This article presents a transformation process towards lean product development in an aerospace industr y. This transformation was achieved in two main stages: the first was to integrate the principles of set-based concurrent engineering into an existing product development model of an aerospace company. This stage included defining activities and associated tools. The second stage was to implement the developed model in a research-based industrial case study, a helicopter engine in this case . Three main outcomes were realised from this work. First, it presented an industrial case of lean transformation in product development, where the leanness of an existing model was enhanced by embedding set-based concurrent engineering principles. Second, the developed model was structured into a set of well-defined activities and associated tools that were previously scattered or redundant. Finally, the developed model was trialled in an industrial project of a helicopter engine, tested to evaluate its value in enhancing the innovation level and reducing risk. The work presented in this article focused on early stage system level design, and future work will extend the implementation of set-based concurrent engineering to sub-system and component levels.

The purpose of this paper is to present modern ways to manage time, resources and progress in a large-scale project. Over the last ten years, new project management techniques and tools have appeared such as concurrent engineering, Continuous Acquisition Lifecycle Support (CALS) and Engineering Data Management System (EDMS). The world downturn of the early 90s influenced project management: increasing constraints on time and budget and more external direction on spending that, for example, requires sophisticated sub-contracting practises. However, the evolution of the software and hardware market makes project control tools cheaper and easier to use. All project groups want to have their scope of work considered as complete projects and to control them themselves. This has several consequences on project staff behaviour concerning project control, and has to be taken into account in every planning process designed today. The system described will be at the heart of the planning and ...

The importance of customer requirement management in product development has been well-recognized in both academia and industry alike. This article provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art research in this field. Customer requirement management entails various issues related to requirement elicitation, analysis, and specification, as well as the requirement management process. With respect to a holistic view of customer requirement management, key challenges and future research directions are identified.

Present day ship design is faced with a difficulty to successfully integrate multiple design tools. This paper introduces ng.zine, a new design system intended for conceptual and preliminary ship design, aiming to make the design tool integration easy. ng.zine acts through the flexible XML database, storing and on-demand supplying current and previous values of significant ship parameters and attributes. It does so without a demand for changes in either designers working environment, or in the tools it integrates, leading to the increased flexibility of the design process. ng.zine permits a parallel execution of multiple design tasks. To assure efficient control and management, ng.zine applies concepts of group decision-making. Every designer is supported in choosing the proper parameter values with respect to the particular task responsibility and the global ship performance. Considered concepts allow designers to model in their experiences, knowledge and organizational hierarchy.

Many organizations in different locations with different cultures and languages participate in the construction and operation of process plants. The data generated by each stakeholder involved in the plant life-cycle are closely related to each other. Therefore, it is important to link and integrate the various data created by each stakeholder. In this study, a method of integrating plant life-cycle data, including the equipment maintenance history, was proposed based on the International Organization for Standardization 15926 standard. To this end, a data model for integrating plant life-cycle data, including maintenance, was developed using the International Organization for Standardization 15926 standard. The proposed method was validated by developing a prototype system and performing experiments converting and visualizing life-cycle data, including maintenance history in the International Organization for Standardization 15926 format, using sample data from a refinery plant.

The automotive industry, in countries such as Brazil, China and India, in contrast to the North American and European markets, is in full expansion. Due to the huge competition in the globalized automotive market, such countries face a challenge to continue this expansion. Especially important in order to win this battle, will be their capacities to release new products in the market faster than their competitors and with more cost efficiency, making an appropriate use of tools such as total quality management, concurrent engineering and increasing the use of innovative concepts in production and logistics . Design/methodology/approach: According with the expose above, the aim of this work was to develop DFMA tools for an industrial real case. There several tools that could be included in the Design for Excellence (DFX) methodologies. Initially, two of those can be outstand here: Design For Manufacturing (DFM) and Design For Asse. Findings: In terms of the press shop facilities of the plant the main results, were: layout optimization, press line automation feasibility, reduced setup and increased productivity, improved racks logistic, reduced overhead, reduced stamped part scraps and resources with mechanical presses selling. In terms of the planning activities, the main results were: reduce time to market, reduce press shop machinery and die stamping investments and reduce indirect cost. Practical implications: The main proposal of concurrent engineering is to shorten a product development time through a simultaneous time implementation of the several stages of the engineering activity in parallel and under a concurrent mode offering all information required by all elements of the product life cycle. Originality/value: This paper reviews fundamental concepts in concurrent engineering and DFX aiming to discuss criteria of assembly and manufacturability regarding the development of automotive panels and doors. A more detailed presentation of the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) results obtained during the practical industrial case of auto body panel development are not presented here due to data confidentiality and page limitation.

C\RFAX SUMMARY This paper describes a systematic concurrent workfiow n1anage1nent (WM) process for integrated product developnzent. WM consists of planning and scheduling teams' activities to suppo1t cooperative and concurrent works. This paper firsr explains process re-engineering, flowcharting and va1ious workfiow practices in concurrent engineering (CE) to come up with a general process for WM. The WM process is based on an infomiation infrastructure containing nzodels of product require1nenrs, enterpn"se organization and resources, including the workjlow activity. Finally, technologies supporti'ng WM such as work process tnodeling, peifonnance analyzing, process re-engineering straregies to redesign the process and activtiy 1nanagenzent-t-eal-tinie task's rnonitoring-are introduced.

Companies in either manufacturing or servicing have to be restructured or re-organised in order to overcome challenges of the 21st century in which customers are not only satisfied but also delighted. In this competitive environment, organisations should use a flexible, adaptive and responsive paradigm. Concurrent Engineering (CE) is a management philosophy and is not restricted to manufacturing companies only. It involves systematic and simultaneous approach in developing a product or process while bringing up all the people who need to be involved in the first place. Global competitive pressure has motivated many companies to change to a more rapid form of product development such as concurrent engineering (CE). By executing design in parallel, improvements occur in many areas such as communication, quality, production processes, cash flows, and profitability. Manufacturing enterprise today has become a matter of effective and efficient application of information technology and knowledge-based engineering. On the one hand, this will increase the competitiveness of a firm in terms of quickly meeting dynamic changes in the market. Concurrent engineering (CE) is undertaken to improve the product design process with the intention of improving organisation performance.

As a Computer Integrated Manufacturing system is a complex, expensive and long-term investment, it is necessary to have a good reference model as a first step to deal with its design and operation. A promising way to assist in CIM design and implementation is the Concurrent Engineering (C E) approach. This paper introduces a reference model (based on the CIM-OSA Architectural Framework) that was developed from a functional point of view. Details are given on how this model can be used for the concurrent design of products and Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS).

In this work, a concurrent engineering approach was applied to the development of a plastic dumbbell, a part used in the recreational sector. The design goal for the part was to reduce the overall weight and to improve the thickness distribution. Simulation of the extrusion blow moulding process and preliminary experimental trials were performed concurrently to assist in the development of the part. Once the numerical modelling of the part was done, improvement of the production process was performed based upon the desired objective function, i.e., a uniform part thickness distribution and/or minimal part weight.

Assembly tolerance analysis is a key element in industry for improving product quality and reducing overall cost. It provides a quantitative design tool for predicting the effects of manufacturing variation on performance and cost. It promotes concurrent engineering by bringing engineering requirements and manufacturing requirements together in a common model.

The aim of this paper is to give a number of methodological and theoretical indicators concerning the contribution of ergonomists to the execution of design projects of new products. Within the context of a design project, the present work therefore describes the studies and ergonomic analyses that can be undertaken during each phase of the design process from a design model based on concurrent engineering. Encompassing the design of the driving cabin of the new generation of high-speed trains (TGV-NG), this paper, through the ergonomic study of a number of technical sub-systems of this product, illustrates the advisory role of the ergonomist who, within the collective design process, ensures that the specific nature of the ''human factor'' is fully integrated into the design approach. Thus, throughout the design process, the ergonomist is called upon both to advise the designer on the characteristics of the target users and, on the basis of a ''desirable future activities'' approach, to help him or her assess the consequences of the design choices made. Ergonomics is described consequently, as an innovation and safety factor. # Safety Science 41 www.elsevier.com/locate/ssci 0925-7535/02/$ -see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. P I I : S 0 9 2 5 -7 5 3 5 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 3 8 -3

This paper describes the design of and experimentation with the Knowledge Query and Manipulation Language (KQML), a new language and protocol for exchanging information and knowledge. This work is part a larger effort, the ARPA Knowledge Sharing Effort which is aimed at developing techniques and methodology for building large-scale knowledge bases which are sharable and reusable. KQML is both a message format and a message-handling protocol to support run-time knowledge sharing among agents. KQML can be used as a language for an application program to interact with an intelligent system or for two or more intelligent systems to share knowledge in support of cooperative problem solving.

The paper presents the trends in the development of methods and systems for manufacturing and assembly process planning on the background of Concurrent Engineering strategies. The solutions for the functional integration of design/manufacturing and production preparation phases and the IT infrastructure including Product Data Management systems for the storage of product structure data, design and manufacturing process documentation are presented. The concept and the example of integrated process and manufacturing system planning in Product Lifecycle Management environment are presented.

The product development environment typically
suffers from a number of shortcomings.
• Some are partly due to the lack of integrated tools
while
• others are partly due to the diverse nature of an
enterprise's business operations that one has to
deal with.
• Tool related shortcomings are often caused by
inappropriate or inadequate computer group-ware
or aids. Such aids range from hardware and
software tools to technologies, to standardization.
• The shortcomings in business operations result
from two main sources:
(a) Process stagnation (why fix, if it is not broke, such as
business, management, technical, or operational
3Ps-policy, practices and procedures); and
(b) Influence of infra-structural factors (such as culture,
mind-set, organization, and human factors).

The construction industry has been suffering from low productivity and poor performance In an attempt to improve its performance, industry practitioners and researchers have looked at the manufacturing industry as a point of reference and a source of innovation Consequently, the industry has acquired and adapted the Concurrent Engineering (CE) approach to manufacturing, to construction Concurrent Construction (CC) The motivation for importing a CE approach to construction is presented in this paper To assist in overcoming the industry's poor productivity and performance, this paper suggests that construction processes need to be carried out concurrently Furthermore, people involved in the project need to be integrated into a unified development process by becoming a multi-disciplinary team Thus, all downstream aspects of the design and construction process and non-value adding activities (waste) can be considered throughout the design stage of the project