Www.wapip.com: A Special-Purpose Search Engine for Web Applications in Product Introduction Process

Abstract

Abstract There have been widespread interests in the development and application of World Wide Web (WWW) to support decision-making activities in product design and manufacture. An increasing number of web applications are emerging and a large number of practitioners are keen on trying these web-based decision support systems. In the meanwhile, it becomes increasingly difficult to surf for appropriate web applications on the Internet with general-purpose search engines. This paper describes a web site, WAPIP, that has been developed specifically to support new product introduction activities. It provides databases for software vendors and researchers to register their web applications with the “wapip” search engine. It also provides facilities to support practitioners in product design and manufacture to search rapidly for the right web applications suitable for solving their problems. This paper discusses the various issues regarding the design, development and operation of this “wapip” search engine.