Workflow-driven collaborative session management in product lifecycle management via Internet

With the globalization of manufacturing industry, there is an increasing need for tools to capture, represent, and exchange product development knowledge. Collaborative engineering design has emerged to support distributed and collaborative product development. Product development process nowadays is featured with distributed workflow, complicated interaction and intensive collaboration. In order to shorten product lifecycle, integration of CAE functionalities with distributed engineering design environment is necessary. However, due to the complex nature of the product life cycle management (PLM) such integration may cause further complications in management of collaborative sessions. This paper presents an Internet-enabled distributed and collaborative framework to support both CAD and CAE collaborations. The product design process is investigated and workflow technology is applied to manage collaborative sessions.