A generalised framework to compass and to support complex product engineering processes

Today, companies are required to boost their productivity with product and process innovation. However, product engineering has become more and more complex, as there are multiple interrelated elements with high dynamic and variance as well as socio-technical aspects to be considered. To support both the work of designers and of managers, various methodologies have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, we highlight key issues of product engineering and derive requirements on a modelling framework that addresses contemporary challenges of rising complexity. With the help of the description of an exemplary project, we introduce and illustrate an approach to meet these requirements – the Integrated Product Engineering Model (iPeM).