Information Support in an Integrated Product Development System

Computer-aided design systems require a comprehensive information interaction capability in order to support team-based design. This paper focuses on research concerned with providing this level of support through the use of a number of related information models. The provision of a common sharable information environment plays a critical role in an integrated product development process. Whilst the need for information models is well known, the problems of how they should be structured and the relationships and interactions between them have yet to be understood. In this paper we identify three information models as important: a product model, a manufacturing model and a product range model. The structure of these models is discussed and an approach is offered to some of the information interaction problems