Abstract
The expansion of Internet-based tools has opened new opportunities to improve collaborative work through the development of a new generation of tools designed to support e-work and e-collaboration. The concepts of e-work and e-collaboration have been evolved through the increasing demand of collaborative environments to support distributed networked activities. This trend has triggered the development of new Information Technologies in order to enable the collaboration and interaction of product development teams in distributed environments.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Communication Tools: These tools enable the interaction between members of the teamwork involved in the different stages of integrated products, processes or manufacturing systems development.
Product Development Process: It is the entire life cycle of product development, from customer requirements to its manufacturing and disposal stages.
E-Engineering Groups: There are groups that execute a product development process regardless of their geographic location.
Tools for Information/Knowledge Management: These are technologies that permit to structure, integrate, and share the engineering information (product and manufacturing information) among all the members.
Functional Tools: These tools enable the specific execution of a task or a group of tasks allowing the fulfillment of specific objectives within different stages of product development.
Collaborative Engineering Environment (CEE): It is a platform that enables coordination and collaboration among e-engineering groups, supported by methodologies and tools that facilitate product realization process, knowledge sharing and efficient/effective execution of engineering activities.
Coordination Tools: There are tools that support the Project management, using project planning and workflow tools.