Today, companies often have operations distributed around the world, and production facilities and designers are often in different locations. Increased use of outsourcing and geographically dispersed supply chains further complicates the manufacturing world. The globalization of manufacturing business means that companies should be able to design, build, and maintain, anywhere at any time. Manufacturing engineers are seeking effective tools during planning to help improve production processes, plant designs, and tooling, and to allow earlier impact on product designs. Collaboration may exist in a number of activities such as (a) reviewing designs with the design team; (b) interfacing with tooling designers; (c) verifying tooling assembly and operation; (d) reviewing manufacturing process plans and factory layouts; and (e) discussing manufacturing problems with suppliers. In larger companies, collaboration is becoming increasingly important in design and manufacturing. Everyone knows something, but no one knows everything. There is an evolution from individuals working independently to functioning in workgroups, as well as enterprise collaboration and collaboration throughout a supply chain. Within a supply chain, sharing knowledge has become paramount. This chapter describes the methods of developing an Internet-enabled, integrated CAD, CAPP, CAM, and CNC system to support collaborative product development. The main goal is to provide a team environment enabling a group of designers and engineers to collaboratively develop a product in real time. STEP can be used to represent product data for heterogeneous application systems and data formats, and the Web-based Product Structure Manager developed can be an effective function module to co-ordinate collaborative activities.
LibreSource: Web Based Platform for Supporting Collaborative Activities