A visualization system for integrating maintainability design and evaluation at product design stage

Thoughtful consideration of products maintenance features early in design stage can reduce or eliminate maintenance costs, reduce downtime, and improve safety. As such, the effective collaboration of product designers and maintenance technicians throughout the product design process is becoming much more important for the most advanced competitiveness. To address this need, a visualization system that enables maintainability-related technicians cooperated with product designers in a networked manufacturing environment is proposed in this study. This paper presents a systematic approach to implementation of a Web-based visualization system by using virtual reality technology. The system aims at providing a simulated environment and concurrent engineering processes to facilitate communication, coordination, control, and integration of product maintainability validation and improvement activities. The result of this research will help increase product maintainability, reduce development cycle time and cost, and hence increase product marketability.

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