Managing the Impact of Engineering Changes in a Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Environment

该奖项的研究目标是开发方法，以便快速可靠地评估拟议工程变更（EC）的影响。工程变更是指在初始设计发布后，对零件或组件的形状、尺寸、结构、材料、制造工艺等进行的变更。由于典型产品的复杂性和变更对整个生命周期的影响，评估EC是一个耗时的过程。研究的重点是发展（一）有意义的表示EC和（ii）技术搜索以前类似的EC。复杂性源于资源的差异，这些差异可能导致工程变更或受到工程变更的影响。本研究假设存在一个网络基础设施（CI），并侧重于CI感知模型和解决方案的设计。使用基于本体的计算，信息论和机器学习的技术。如果成功，这项研究将提供一个科学的基础，目前特设的变化评估过程。它将促进我们对工程变更数据的不同组成部分如何相互关联的理解。研究结果将使设计师在全球化的背景下受益，这增加了管理组件和工艺变更的压力，同时保持或提高质量，并在更短的周转时间内降低成本。快速、准确和可靠地评估工程变更的影响将为行业和美国政府带来成本效益，而不仅仅是克服设计或制造过程中的错误或渐进式改进所带来的效益。结果将通过密歇根大学传播？的PLM（产品生命周期管理）联盟，并包括在全球产品开发的研究生课程，汇集了来自美国的学生，德国和韩国的全球设计团队工作。还将通过各种出版物和开发开放源码软件工具传播成果，供业界和学术界评价。研究生和本科生将接触到多学科，全球性的研究和开发，作为这个奖项的结果。

The research objective of this award is to develop methods to enable fast and reliable evaluation of the impact of a proposed Engineering Change (EC). Engineering Change refers to a change to the shape, dimensions, structure, material, manufacturing process, etc. of a part or assembly after the initial design has been released. Evaluating ECs is a time-consuming process due to the complexity of typical products and the lifecycle-wide impact of a change. The research focus is on the development of (i) meaningful representations of ECs and (ii) techniques for searching previous similar ECs. Complexities stem from the disparity of resources that can cause or are affected by the engineering change. This research assumes the existence of a Cyberinfrastructure (CI) and focuses on the design of CI-aware models and solution approaches. Techniques from ontology-based computing, information theory and machine learning are used. If successful, this research will provide a scientific foundation to the current ad-hoc change evaluation process. It will advance our understanding of how the disparate components of engineering change data relate to each other. The research results will benefit designers in the context of globalization, which is increasing the pressure to manage component and process changes while maintaining or improving quality and reducing costs with shorter turn-around times. Fast, accurate and reliable evaluation of the impact of engineering changes will result in cost benefits to industry and the US government that extend beyond benefits realized by just overcoming errors or incremental improvements in the design or manufacturing processes. Results will be disseminated through the University of Michigan?s PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) Alliance and included in a graduate course in Global Product Development that brings together students from the U.S., Germany, and South Korea to work in global design teams. Results will also be disseminated through various publications and the development of open-source software tools which will be available for industry and academia evaluation. Graduate and undergraduate students will be exposed to multidisciplinary, global research and development as a result of this award.