Proceedings of the International Conference on
Product Lifecycle Management    PLM'09
Supporting the extended enterprise
PLM-SP5, 2009
 
(from Chapter 7: Application Studies)

 Full Citation and Abstract

Title: A method to define a co-design platform to support cooperative work in SMEs
  Author(s): Michele Germani, Maura Mengoni, Margherita Peruzzini
  Address: Polytechnic University of Marche, via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
m.germani @ univpm.it, m.mengoni @ univpm.it, m.peruzzini @ univpm.it
  Reference: PLM-SP5 - 2009 Proceedings  pp. 335 - 345
  Abstract/
Summary
Collaborative product development is crucial for extended enterprises in order to promote innovation facing market competitiveness. Co-design software platforms aim at facilitating companies networking to achieve common design goals. A successful cooperation depends on tools' ability to effectively manage communication, data sharing in distributed teams and specific interaction requirements. In the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the integration of design and supply chains is not a trivial task. Their highly flexible organization makes difficult to manage multidisciplinary teamwork and advanced co-design software implementation. This paper presents a structured method for defining an innovative co-design platform for SMEs. System architecture can be defined by applying suitable metrics based on collaborative process characteristics in order to assess functionalities performance of available tools. Benchmarking is based on different levels of collaboration recognized in typical SMEs product development process. Correlation between process metrics, software functionalities and specific collaboration needs is managed by adopting quality function deployment (QFD) techniques.
 
PDF  View Full PDF
 only subscribers
 
PDF  Click here to Order On-line
 

 We welcome your comments about this Article