| The current marketplace had demanded that companies reduce the time and cost involved in taking a mechanical system from conceptualization to production. Software for computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, design for assembly, design for manufacture and manufacturing simulation have assisted in this reduction of time and cost, but are still not able to provide the support needed to meet the demands of the modern product development cycle. The use of virtual prototyping tools allows designers to create digital prototypes and evaluate the products prior to any physical prototypes. This reduces the time to market. However, the current set of virtual prototyping tools are so varied in architecture, that it is difficult to create a complete set of tools. This research presents the design of a system that provides an expandable and customizable software system aimed at integrating virtual product development tools that support virtual design, virtual manufacturing and virtual assembly. An implementation of the system and test case results are presented and discussed. |
