The information gap between design engineering and materials supply system design

This paper focuses on the design of materials supply systems in product development projects. In order to design the materials supply system in parallel with the product, product data have to be made available to the materials supply system designers. The aim of this paper is to discuss the information quality of the product data needed and to indicate how the information quality can be increased. Empirical data have been gathered through case studies conducted within the Manufacturing Industry.The empirical data show many imperfections in the information quality. In order to increase the information quality, the possibilities given by PDM-systems must be utilised. It is also essential that the materials supply system designers are able to claim what product data they need and in what form they need them. In addition, the current status of the product data must be given, i.e. information about how much the data may change.Keywords: Materials supply systems design; Product development project; Concurrent engineering; Information quality; Product data; Product data management system