An infrastructure for inter-organizational collaborative product development

Inter-organizational collaborative product development relies heavily on Internet-based technology. As heterogeneous computer environments are typically used in such cases, problems related with data sharing and work coordination at the global level are basic obstacles for widespread implementation of the concept of virtual engineering teams in global product development. In this paper, a software infrastructure is proposed to solve the addressed problems. An event-driven software component framework called the STEP Object Management Framework (SOMF) enables the sharing of common STEP-based product model data, manages collaborative and distributed workflows and provides interfaces to OMG compliant product data management (PDM) systems and workflow management systems. The component framework is based on open standards (CORBA, STEP, Java) and permits a flexible configuration to meet the specific requirements of organizations involved in joint product development projects.