Title: Manufacturing Process Management: iterative synchronisation of engineering data with manufacturing realities

Authors: Clement Fortin, Gregory Huet

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, 2500 Chemin de Polytechnique, Montreal (QC) H3T 1J4, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, 2500 Chemin de Polytechnique, Montreal (QC) H3T 1J4, Canada

Abstract: The principles of Concurrent Engineering (CE) have led to an early introduction of manufacturing decisions in the Product Development Process (PDP). Nevertheless, the integration along the product life cycle of computer tools to help engineers manage their tasks in the global market still suffers from a poor understanding of information requirements for the effective streamline of the design to production process. Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) is a strategy that supports formal communication between engineering and production in a virtual 3D environment. This paper outlines how MPM enables a real-time assessment of component manufacturability and a parallelisation of product design and manufacturing processes. The proposed scheme is dedicated to offer CE teams the answers to integrated change management issues through a digital collaborative environment. From a technological perspective, a MPM solution provides an intelligent bridge between the Computer-Aided Design/Product Data Management (CAD/PDM) and Enterprise Resource Planning/Manufacturing Execution System (ERP/MES) software with viable perspectives for complete Product Life cycle Management (PLM) packages and new Knowledge Management (KM) approaches.

Keywords: concurrent engineering; engineering data integration; information exchange management; manufacturing know-how; manufacturing planning; manufacturing process management; simultaneous engineering; product development; virtual manufacturing; component manufacturability; product design; CAD; computer-aided design; PDM; product data management; enterprise resource planning; manufacturing execution systems; ERP; MES; collaborative development; product lifecycle management; PLM; KM; knowledge management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2007.012496

International Journal of Product Development, 2007 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.280 - 295

Published online: 19 Feb 2007 *

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