Virtual prototyping of product structure in product data management

Abstract

Product Data Management (PDM) systems are beginning to be deployed for organizing, accessing, and controlling data about products throughout their life cycle. In general, these systems lack integrated tools for prototyping PDM data, such as the Product Structure. Product Structure (PS) encompasses broadly the hierarchical organization of parts, typically defined by the bill of material, that describes the product from a variety of (e.g. design, manufacturing) views. Consistent maintenance and constant evaluation of the evolving PS is vital during iter- ative design, particularly when parts are shared across different products. The first contribution of this paper is a framework for understanding how PS/PDM fits within the broad context of mechanical design, leading to the identification of key desirables of PS prototypes. The second contribution is a system archi- tecture for PS prototyping that satisfies these desirables. The system conveniently accesses different versions of the PS stored in the IBM ProductManager PDM system, and supports virtual prototyping of the PS using real-time interactive visualization in the IBM 3D Interaction Accelerator (3DIX) environment.