Object hierarchy scheme for complex assemblies to aid information retrieval and work process database integration

Concurrent engineering (CE) and Group Technology (GT) have been recognized for their ability to reduce the long lead times of new product development. The work presented here focuses on developing a product model that can describe an end-product as an aggregation of constituent sub-assemblies and components in an open data-structure so as to enable: (i) development of end-product variants using variant design, and (ii) CE through the integration of work process databases like purchasing and costing. The development of a systematic procedure to formulate this object hierarchy scheme is the major contribution of this effort.