An information and knowledge framework for multi-perspective design and manufacture

Abstract

Although the advances of computer systems continue to provide improved support to concurrent product development activities, there are still several limitations that need to be addressed. A product needs to be considered from multiple perspectives or viewpoints to satisfy the many conflicting requirements that must be addressed during product development. The ability of software systems to provide an information sharing environment that can support multiple viewpoints is, therefore, vital for a concurrent engineering environment. This paper presents an approach to support flexible integration between multiple views. A novel framework is proposed to capture the combination of information and knowledge in two separate but related layers. This approach provides a flexible environment that is easy to maintain and can operate on new perspectives as they are introduced and as new knowledge is identified. Injection mould design has been used as a focus for the experimental work and results are presented which deal with interactions between design for function, design for mouldability, design for assembly and design for machining.

Keywords:

• Framework
• Multiple views
• Product model
• Knowledge model
• Information integration

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful for the financial support of the Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering of the Loughborough University, without which this research work could not have been done.