CERC Technical Report Series

Technical Memoranda

CERC-TR-TM-90-006

Concurrent Engineering - An Introduction

SUREN N. DWIVEDI

MICHAEL SOBOLEWSKI

1990

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This effort has been sponsored by Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA), under contract No. MDA972-88-C-0047 for DARPA Initiative in Concurrent Engineering(DICE).

Concurrent Engineering Research Center
West Virginia University
Drawer 2000, Morgantown WV 26506

CARS&FOF?90 Conference, Norfolk, VA
Concurrent Engineering - An Introduction

SUREN N. DWIVEDI
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
West Virginia Unversity, Morgantown, WV 26506
MICHAEL SOBOLEWSKI
Concurrent Engineering Research Center
West Virginia University, Morgantown WV 26506

Summary
The paper focuses on the need and the underlying concepts of concurrent engineering approach. It lays out the concurrent engineering methodology for product development. An attempt is made to clarify the prevailing misconceptions about concurrent engineering. Integration is the working foundation for computer-based approaches to concurrent engineering. An architecture of a concurrent engineering system is considered as four levels consisting of an object-oriented data base, an intelligent data base engine, a high-level interface and high-level tools. This architecture combines technologies such as object-oriented programming, expert systems, hypermedia, visual programming, data bases and information retrieval. Within this architecture the integration of processors, humans, tools and methods to form a concurrent engineering environment for the development of products is treated in the context of cooperating knowledge bases.

1. Introduction: Why Concurrent Engineering

There has been a tremendous decline in American industrial productivity over the last two decades, but the Japanese have steadily captured world dominance in industry after industry, relegating U.S. far behind. As a result, the methodology of product development needs to be changed. A strong, dependable product development methodology has to be developed which can be continuously upgraded and modified. Such a methodology should lead to a significant reduction in cost and development time without sacrifying any of the desired product specifications. Moreover, it should be simple to comprehend, easy to implement and easily adaptable to a diverse nature of product development activities [4,8]. Concurrent engineering is the approach which provides all the above capabilities, and it can prove to be the panacea of all the ills plaguing the American industry.