SUMMARY OF PLANNING AND INTEGRATION OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

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SUMMARY AND PERSPECTIVE

The RPD concept is based fundamentally on the early and intensive cooperation of experts from different disciplines. This concept therefore makes it possible to bring together the various sources of expert knowledge in the early phases of product development. Thus, all available sources of information can be used right from the beginning. The initial incomplete knowledge is incrementally completed by diverse experts. Cooperation within and between the autonomous multifunctional teams is of great importance here. The selection and use of suitable information and communication tech- nology are indispensable.

Information exchange is considerably determined by the local and temporal situation of cooper- ation partners. If the cooperating team members are situated at one place, ordinary, natural com- munication is possible and sensible. Nevertheless, technical support and electronic documentation might still be helpful. In case cooperation partners are located at different places technical support is indispensable. For this, CSCW and CMC (computer-mediated communication) tools are applied, such as shared whiteboard applications, chat boxes, electronic meeting rooms, and audio / videocon- ferencing. The currently existing systems make it possible to bridge local barriers. However, they neglect the requirements of face-to-face communication and cooperation. For instance, it is necessary to establish appropriate local and temporal relations among team members. The communication architecture, therefore, should enable the modeling of direct and indirect interactions between indi- viduals. Because of the dynamic of the development process, these relations change. The system should therefore possess sufficient flexibility to enable keeping track of the modifications. Further- more, the communication basis should be able to represent information not as isolated, but as in the relevant context.

During product development, especially within creative sectors, frequent and rather short ad hoc sessions are preferred. This form of spontaneous information exchange between decentralized devel- opment teams requires computer-mediated communication and cooperation techniques, which permit a faster approach and lead to closer cooperation between experts. This results in a harmonized product development, which maintains the autonomy of decentralized teams.

Along with the short iteration cycles, the interdisciplinary teams are an essential feature of the RPD concept. They operate autonomously and are directly responsible for their respective tasks. Additionally, the increasing complexity of products and processes requires an early collaboration and coordination. Thus, it is necessary to make knowledge of technology, design, process, quality, and costs available to anyone involved in the development process.

Conventional databases are not sufficient for an adequate representation of the relevant product and process knowledge. On the one hand, current systems do not consider the dynamic of the de- velopment process sufficiently. On the other hand, it is not possible to assess the consequences of one’s definition. However, this is a fundamental prerequisite for effective cooperation.

To cope with the given requirements, it is necessary to represent the knowledge in the form of an active semantic network (ASN). This is characterized by active independent objects within a connected structure, which enables the modeling of cause-and-effect relations. The objects in this network are not passive, but react automatically to modifications. This fact provides the possibility of an active and automatic distribution of modifications throughout the whole network. In contrast to conventional systems, ASN contains, in addition to causal connections, representations of methods, communication, and cooperation structures as well as the knowledge required to select the suitable manufacturing technique. Furthermore, negative and positive knowledge (rejected and followed-up alternatives) are stored therein. These acquired perceptions will support the current and future de- velopment process. The ASN should exhibit following functions and characteristics:

• Online dialog capability

• Dynamicness

• Robustness

• Version management

• Transparency

All in all, the ASN makes it possible to represent and to manage the design, quality, and cost knowledge together with the know-how of technologies and process planning in the form of the dynamic chains of cause and effect explained here. Thus, the ASN forms the basis for the concept of RPD.

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