An Activity-Based Model of Concurrent Engineering System

Abstract

The concurrent engineering (CE) concept is an advanced organisational concept based on the idea of parallel/simultaneous and concurrent processing of the requirements of different business/enterprise functions such as marketing, CAD, CAM, PPC, manufacturing, etc. whose application leads to radical shortening of the total production process time as well as quality improvement. The CE-based organisation is oriented to product and, further, it is characterised by much higher organisational dynamics than the traditional organisational models due to frequent products change. To support this dynamics effectively and efficiently, it is necessary to develop corresponding models of the CE process that would serve as the basis for the CEbased organisation design. The paper presents an activity-based model of a CE system, using IDEF0 diagrams as the representation class, covering the concrete CE system's life cycle, that is composed of two basic global processes: the CE system design and the CE system operation. The model refers, as well, to the CE tools and control (management) processes for the CE processes presented