Suoramallinnustekniikat globaalissa suunnitteluympäristössä

The thesis has been done as a part of modelling toolkit development for Metso Mining and Construction business. The aim of this work is to study the new modeling tools, opportunities, risks, and compare them to existing practices. The target is also to examine the suitability of tools, at a general level to the product development process, and to identify the target company's processes where the tools can add value. The work is divided into four parts. At first existing design tools are described. This part clarifies the existing design tools and highlights the problems that current practices have. Then features and use of the new direct modeling methods are presented. Studying the tools is already partly new information as the theoretical basis of this topic is still narrow. The third section compares the existing and new modeling tools with each other in order to identify parts of the product development process, in which new methods could be useful. The last part researches the use of direct modeling tools in product development process and describes the best practices in the target company's processes. Research indicates that in the target company's activities can be found many processes, which can be enhanced by the use of direct modelling. Introduction of new practices have to start from the user level, which causes that the entire global company operating practices change swiftly. Therefore, awareness-raising and training is essential to achieve the objectives. Solutions found are mainly local level changes which may also facilitate global collaboration of the company