THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN SYSTEM FOR CONCURRENT ENGINEERING

The thesis of this paper is on the development of an integrated design system called Design Function Deployment (DFD), which provides a plat form for the adoption of the concurrent engineering approach to produc t development. The paper commences with discussions on the objectives and rationale for the development of the design system. The contributi ng factors to its development are also elucidated. DFD is then examine d in terms of what it is, its design model, and how concurrent enginee ring is implemented within it. The paper concludes with a concise disc ussion of some of the key concurrent design methods constituted within it and work done to date toward the software implementation of DFD.