Product Development Process Management System Based on P_PROCE Model

Abstract

Product data management (PDM) systems are enabling tool of concurrent engineering (CE). Although the PDM system provides good support for product data, particularly at the early stages of design, it is seldom used beyond the design process. Furthermore, it provides few facilities for activity definition and no facilities for the enactment of production activities. In order to manage the whole lifecycle of motorcycle development, this paper presents a product development process management system that integrates the workflow management system (WFMS) with the PDM. On one hand we can use the powerful product data management functionality of PDM systems, on the other hand we can use the effective process management and control functionalities of WFMS. For the sake of guiding and constraining the workflow modeling, we provide an integrated product development workflow model named P_PROCE model. It is made up of five views that are the process view(P), the product view(P), the resource view(R), and the organization view(O), the control & evaluation view(CE). Based on this model, the architecture and implementation of the product development process management system is presented. It consists of the workflow modeling module, the workflow enactment module and the PDM system. The first module includes process modeling, system sustain and API. The second module includes the personal desktop and the workflow engine. The PDM system is regarded as a workflow-enabled application. The workflow engine invokes it by the Tool Agent.