Design of Web-based cost estimation and supplier selection service with unified modeling language

This paper presents a system that uses the Web to link designers and manufacturers to provide fast and accurate cost estimation and supplier selection. The system is a Web-based integrated environment that provides process-planning capabilities, machining time and cost estimation, and supplier selection. By utilizing Web technologies, one customer or designer can submit a request for quotation for its product to a central server that links to various manufacturing suppliers. Then, the server selects appropriate suppliers and helps them generate accurate cost estimation. The central server provides the designer supplier options with cost information and without compromising the manufacturerspsila sensitive cost data. The system is modeled with united modeling language and the prototype software is implemented using Java 2 Enterprise Edition, Java Server Page and Enterprise Java Beans.