Collaborative evaluation of early design decisions and product manufacturability

In manufacturing, the conceptual design and detailed design stages are typically regarded as sequential and distinct. Decisions made in conceptual design are often made with little information as to how they would affect detailed design or manufacturing process specification. Many possibilities and unknowns exist in conceptual design where ideas about product shape and functionality are changing rapidly. Few if any tools exist to aid in this difficult amorphous stage in contrast to the many CAD and analysis tools for detailed design where much more is known about the final product. The paper discusses the Materials Process Design Environment (MPDE), a collaborative problem solving environment (CPSE) that was developed so geographically dispersed designers in both the conceptual and detailed stage can work together and understand the impacts of their design decisions on functionality, cost and manufacturability.