This paper presents a web-based integrated platform for supporting the collaborative product design activities. An overview of the overall Digital Factory framework, in which the Collaborative Prototype Designer (CPD) resides, has been given flrst. Next, the CPD's functional architecture is presented including the way it addresses the needs for collaboration during the product design process. The CPD is based on the integration of a spectrum of technologies, including Content Management, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Virtual & Augmented Reality (VRlAR) andDecision Support, through a Web-based user friendly interface. The major contribution of the proposed approach is the CPO's flexible architecture, which takes into consideration the design needs of both mechanical and non mechanical products and it is therefore, considered being applicable to a wide range of products. [t integrates design activities, processes, methods and tools in a modular feature, easy to be used and be enhanced even further. The CPO mainly aims at SMEs that usually cannot afford an expensive commercial solution, for supporting of the collaborative product design.
IntroductionProduct development is the result of a network based collaborative design process, since most of the projects, which are usually geographically distributed for the design of a new product, require co-operation among expert groups with diverse competence. [Chryssolouris, 2006]. A collaborative product design project is necessary to take into consideration issues related to the users' integration, organization and communication, as well as to product data sharing, management and visualization. New and efficient paradigms of a web-based collaborative product design, in a global economy, will be driven by increased outsourcing and the reduction of product development time [Draghici et ai., 2007]. These constitute the motivation for the conceptualization of the proposed framework of an integrated web-based platform in support of the collaborative design activities. This is a holistic solution, applying mainly to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which cannot usually afford to integrate, in their processes, sophisticated large-scale commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions for a collaborative product design.The CPD system serves as a multi-user real-time collaboration tool for supporting product development activities and it could be used efficiently by designers, engineers, managers, suppliers and customers. It enables single users and/or user groups to work in a collaborative way, even if they are dispersed over different sites, without changing the existing design environment. It provides the infrastructure necessary to make engineering teams efficient, by improving their productivity, which results in decreasing considerably the time required for the designing phase to be completed. The key contribution of this system is its architecture that integrates the CADNRI AR environments, into a modular system, easy to use and manage. Some of the benefits by using the system a...
