ENHANCING THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS VIA DESIGN PROGRESS AND KNOWLEDGE ASSETS MANAGEMENT WITH VISUAL DESIGN EVALUATIONS

With the advance of IT infrastructure and computer-based engineering solutions in manufacturing enterprises, design engineers have at their disposal numerous computer-based tools and methods that facilitate product development activities. Although these tools and methods have improved the quality and speed of product development processes, there remain many inefficiencies due to ineffective use and/or sharing of design knowledge and errors in communication. This paper identifies the typical issues in communications and design knowledge sharing in collaborative design environments and introduces a computer-based solution to enhance the product development process in terms of collaboration and design knowledge sharing. The solution is focused on preventing communication errors and the timely use of design knowledge assets, including design documents, specifications, test results, reports, reviews, memos, meeting minutes, and the like.