Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Engineering Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Mechanical Engineering

PDF

Theses and Dissertations

2006

PDG

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Structuring Emperical Methods For Reuse And Efficiency In Product Development Processes, Marshall Edwin Bare Dec 2006

Structuring Emperical Methods For Reuse And Efficiency In Product Development Processes, Marshall Edwin Bare

Theses and Dissertations

Product development requires that engineers have the ability to predict product performance. When product performance involves complex physics and natural phenomena, mathematical models are often insufficient to provide accurate predictions. Engineering companies compensate for this deficiency by testing prototypes to obtain empirical data that can be used in place of predictive models. The purpose of this work is to provide techniques and methods for efficient use of empirical methods in product development processes. Empirical methods involve the design and creation of prototype hardware and the testing of that hardware in controlled environments. Empirical methods represent a complete product development sub-cycle …


A Dynamic Workflow Framework For Mass Customization Using Web Service And Autonomous Agent Technologies, Daniel J. Karpowitz Dec 2006

A Dynamic Workflow Framework For Mass Customization Using Web Service And Autonomous Agent Technologies, Daniel J. Karpowitz

Theses and Dissertations

Custom software development and maintenance is one of the key expenses associated with developing automated systems for mass customization. This paper presents a method for reducing the risk associated with this expense by developing a flexible environment for determining and executing dynamic workflow paths. Strategies for developing an autonomous agent-based framework and for identifying and creating web services for specific process tasks are presented. The proposed methods are outlined in two different case studies to illustrate the approach for both a generic process with complex workflow paths and a more specific sequential engineering process.