Research On Web-Based Collaborative Design System For Product Development

At present the research on PDM is very popular and the development of it is very quick. PDM is the platform for collaborative design and information integration of enterprise, and also the bridge of information communication among different departments of enterprise. With PDM technology, the enterprise cannot only manage the different electronic documents effectively but also deliver the accurate information of product timely for each section of business enterprise. Using the CSCW platform as collaborative environment with the product management of PDM, the distributed advantageous resources are fully utilized, by which enterprises can improve their competitive ability, sustainable development and creative ability.With the rapid development of information technology, computer and network technology, it is possible for designers in different places to collaboratively design. Therefore, PDM software (i.e. TeamCenter) is chosen as the integrated platform to achieve collaborative design and Inventor is used as the integrated CAD software. By folly using Internet and Web technologies, the real-time collaborative design in different places is studied in this paper. In the meantime, an architecture of implementing the network-based collaborative design is proposed. Moreover, the functional demands and supporting techniques are discussed in detail.The main work of this paper may be summarized as follows:1. The state of the art in collaborative design all over the world is analyzed and summarized. Aiming at the present situation of the enterprises in our country, personal insights and research methods to implement collaborative design are then put forward, which may greatly help lay a solid foundation for network-based collaborative design.2. The theoretical foundation, the key technologies and the research methods of CSCW and CSCD are summarized, and the emergence, development, and functional structure of PDM and TeamCenter software are analyzed and discussed in detail. TeamCenter software is a representative enterprise-leveled PDM system and acomparatively perfect integrated frame supporting concurrent engineering (CE), which includes the main functional modules that the general PDM systems should have and provides object-oriented system customization and integrated development tools.3. A hybrid architecture of combining B/S with C/S is founded, which is based on the practical status of business enterprise and takes full advantage of the management function to product data of PDM. This model is adapted to the applications of the enterprises, and makes use of the newest network, database, and Web techniques, so it is greatly beneficial to carrying out collaborative design in different places and with different forms.