Collaborative Engineering in Product Development of Virtual Enterprises

Collaborative engineering in product development is one of the most important requirements for making this Virtual Enterprise real, competitive, and widely implemented within organizations. Collaborative Engineering is a virtual methodology that tends to bring to upstream knowledge professions involved in downstream design as preparation of manufacture, production and marketing. It involves effective participation of different professions specialists in the earliest stages of conception. Mechatronic Integration technology is playing an increasingly important role in popularizing the concept of end-to-end, cross-functional design. With Mechatronic Integration modules, two engineering departments share program access and intelligence, and become more productive as a consequence. Key-Words: Collaborative engineering; Mechatronic Integration technology; automated software integration.