A Generic Product Modelling Framework for Rapid Development of Customised Products

In response to the current rapidly changing manufacturing environment, product modelling technology has been widely researched to provide information for supporting the development of customised products. Traditional product modelling technologies are unable to support the information exchange and share in various stages of product development processes that could be taking place in a distributed manufacturing environment. This has caused many problems such as information loss, data format incompatibility and reduced efficiency and effectiveness of product data applications. This has consequently created bottlenecks for the integration of product development processes. In this chapter, a Generic Product Modelling Framework (GPMF) is proposed to overcome the problems of information exchange and sharing. This framework uses the Standard for the Exchange Product Model Data (STEP) as a foundation, and consists of four functional components: an EXPRESS Data Model namely EDM, a STEP–based modelling environment, a “five-phase” modelling method, and three EDM data exchange and sharing methods. The case study shows that the product models built based on the GPMF are capable of integrating information in product design, manufacturing and assembly. The GPMF is compatible, comprehensive, and flexible, and it is able to support information exchange and sharing.