Towards a virtual product model

Abstract

Today, many researchers working on the information management process in construction recognise the problem of modelling complex product-related data structures. Furthermore, many experts doubt whether an all-inclusive-product-model is a solution for an integrated information environment that should efficiently support the life cycle of a product. It seems that the rich experiences in product modelling gathered during the last decade do not necessarily lead to better models but rather to the awareness that the more complex the product models are, the more rigid and less usable they become in practice. The paper first summarises some deficiencies of complex product models and then introduces a new conceptual solution, called 'virtual product model', which is based on the decomposition of a conventional product model. The concept investigates disharmony in the structure and semantics of distributed (virtual) parts by applying agent technology and the tuple space communication model.