Application of the CMII model to an integrated engineering and manufacturing development environment

Abstract

In all product development cycles, the change process is one of the most critical elements which must be well controlled. This change process, which is comprised within the configuration management methodology, must be one of the key processes supported by an integrated product development environment which supports the concurrent development of design and manufacturing. The CMII business process model proposed by the Institute of Configuration Management is very well documented and has become a reference for modelling the change process within an enterprise. It was thus proposed to evaluate how this model can be implemented within a virtual product development laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal which integrates CAD, PDM and MPM technologies. MPM technologies support manufacturing engineers and process planners for the development and analysis of all manufacturing process information. The study has shown that the CMII business model is totally compatible with the methodologies and technologies supported in the laboratory, but that the existing technologies have to support more sophisticated workflow capabilities to support the CMII model. Moreover, the model was found to foster a highly collaborative product and manufacturing process development environment where both engineering and manufacturing information structures are kept synchronized in real time.