Intelligent information infrastructure for group decision and negotiation support of concurrent engineering

Concurrent engineering is the activity that results in the design of a product taking into consideration downstream concerns, such as manufacturability, testability and maintainability of the designed product. Concurrent engineering is an example of group decision-making and negotiation that commonly occurs in organizations. It involves many agents (e.g. design, manufacturing, materials, marketing), each of which has its own feasibility and performance criteria. Conflicting goals and viewpoints that arise during the process are resolved through negotiation. The authors introduce the concept of intelligent information infrastructure to support the integration of distributed decision-making and negotiation among the heterogeneous functions of a manufacturing enterprise