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etc. It goes without saying that Integrated Design
Engineers are not supposed to master all the as-
sociated complex disciplines by themselves. They
should, however, be able to understand domain
experts, and be able to translate their requirements
into their design tasks.
The collaborative product development model
integrates knowledge from all the product lifecycle
activities. For the product lifecycle representation
there can be used different methods and modeling
languages. Among them, there have been choose
the IDEFØ (integrated Definition Method) (www.
idef.com/pdf/idef0.pdf) as our preliminary re-
search approach. This allows researchers to define
the platform needs and also, its future structure.
IDEFØ is a method designed to model the
decisions, actions, and activities of an organiza-
tion or system. IDEFØ was derived from a well-
established graphical language, the Structured
Analysis and Design Technique (SADT).
The followed purpose is the deep analyze of
each product lifecycle activity, under different
aspects: the role of each activity, sub activities
deployed, the transform parameters, the supports
that allowed the development and control of an
activity, the information exchange. In this context,
IDEFØ method best attend the declare purpose.
Each activity can be representing under a modular
and graphical form, using arrows with a specific
signification. One activity transforms input into
output data. The activity development need as-
sistance tools and control tools that allowed its
development start or control.
For the representation of the product lifecycle
model there have been used the iGrafx 2007
software (www.igrafx.com), which contained the
IDEFØ module.
The superior level diagram A0 (Figure 3),
has defined by the product lifecycle specific ac-
tivities: needs analysis, design, manufacturing,
use, disposal. There was adopted a top-bottom
approach which allowed a progressive detailed
from general to particular aspects for a clear and
complete product lifecycle modeling. Although a
product lifecycle is specific to a product, there are
some basic facts, aspects, and phases that are com-
mon to almost any type of product. An Integrated
Design Engineer needs this basic knowledge in
order to be able to analyze and understand specific
product lifecycles. The reality is however much
more complex, people and departments cannot
perform their tasks in isolation and one activity
cannot simply finish and the next activity start.
Design is an iterative process, often designs need
to be modified due to manufacturing constraints
or conflicting requirements.
The superior level diagram, named A0 (Figure
3), has defined by the product lifecycle specific
activities:
A1 Activity: Needs analysis
. The objective is
to identify and formulate the needs for product
development. The initiation of this activity is
determinate by many factors as: a new market per-
ception, an idea and technical and/or commercial
un-satisfaction user perception. These correspond
to some marketing function roles. The result of
this activity is the product task topic.
A2 Activity: Design
.
Product design
can be
defined as an entirety of activities and processes
which allow us to pass from the idea of a new prod-
uct (or improving an existent one) to information
(drawings, programs, etc) which allow the produc-
tion launching and ensure the product's use and
maintenance (Perrin, 2001), (Prudhomme, 2000).
Among design models the most representative
is the model of Pahl and Beitz (1984), which
is based on a design seen as a hierarchical, se-
quenced phases, the predominant logic being the
convergence. At the origin of each new techni-
cal object, there is a specific problem to solve
and a goal to focus on. The first phase of design
consists in establishing the desired technical and
economical specifications. The next phases consist
of comprehending the design as a process of an
increasingly defining process of adopted solution
or like a bridge from a function (abstract form) to
a solution (certain form). In the
conceptual design
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