Get it Right the First Time

Collaborative product development, long neglected due to the development of computer-aided tools targeted solely at individuals, has gained momentum with the availability of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Advanced computer aided product development environments put information at the fingertips of all people involved in the design, development, marketing, deployment, and purchasing of a product. Easy access to information and skills independent of geographic locations at any stage of the development process break down traditional barriers and allow designs with a quality and complexity not possible before. Although computer aided collaborative product development is more an information management issue, than a computer aided design and manufacturing issue, it is easiest understood in this very context, as here the development of computer-based tools have their biggest impact through computer graphics, 3D modeling and more recently virtual reality and digital mock up (DMU).