Information management in virtual engineering

Abstract

Engineering projects are rapidly growing in size and complexity. Computers have aided in managing project growth and solving the complexity issues to some extent. Engineering design has moved from drawing board design to computer aided design. But the process of design has changed minimally. There is still a potential for using computers to improve the design process. Engineering design projects are increasingly often being implemented by more than one firm; it is often beneficial and even necessary to collaborate. The collaboration between geographically distant branches/firms has to be achieved, as the required expertise is normally never found in one place. This research takes a look at using available computer technology for improving the engineering design collaboration and to improve the process of design. The research also takes a look the potential problems that will be encountered in a collaboration project and how to overcome them. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) procedures still insist on the complete documentation in the form of manuals or in electronic form. This documentation procedure has its advantages but the basic disadvantage lies with fact that the documentation and design are viewed as two separate processes. This research proposes a method to integrate them. This project demonstrates the feasibility of knowledge capture in the design process to aid the design engineer. The project also demonstrates rapid application prototyping using the JAVA language.