Integrated Product and Process Data Management

One of the most significant impacts on product development in recent years has been made by the application of data management techniques, which are known as product data management, engineering data management, engineering documentation management, and integrated product data management. The initial objective of applying these techniques was to provide methods for the storage and retrieval of electronic product data (e.g. product geometry, product structure, and design documents) that were created in the product development process. Lately, the capabilities for process and work flow management and product structure management are also provided to better manage product data and development process. In the 1990s, concurrent engineering has been employed to improve product manufacturability and quality, and to reduce development cycle time and cost by resolving product, process, and organizational issues at the early stage of design. Concurrent engineering involves all activities in the product life cycle, including product design, process planning and management, and manufacturing. To accomplish these activities, product developers must manage diverse, heterogeneous data that support the needs of various applications. Therefore, data management plays an increasingly important role in tracking products from conception to retirement and supporting effective communication and information sharing among functional groups and individuals of a product development team. Along with product data, process and organization data are also integral parts of product development. Therefore, to offer an integrated approach that fully supports the activities of concurrent engineering, we enlarge the scope of product data management in order to address integrated product and process data management for this special issue.