Modelling design planning in concurrent engineering

Concurrent engineering offers to industry, the promise of significant reductions in product development times matched to equally significant improvements in product and process quality. To adequately realise this promise, we suggest that a crucial focal point is the development of models that further the understanding of the nature of design planning within such complex environments. Progress in the long term towards developing computer-based techniques and tools to support human participants within the organisation may only proceed with this understanding. Although computer based systems are increasingly being utilised to support process improvements in CE manufacturing planning, there exists a significant gap in the knowledge of not only how this technology can be used to support upstream design planning decisions, but in the fundamental paradigms that would be necessary for the development of such a design process planning system. In the paper we suggest that the blackboard database is an appropriate tool for investigating and developing models and strategies to represent human cognition in CE design planning