Virtual Modeling and Prototyping in Collaborative Product Design

Product Design And Engineering

The development of any new part or product is a complex operation, as it varies from product to product (Ulrich & Eppinger, 2004). However, the basic methodology employed is common to (nearly) every project. The main stages of this procedure include:

• a.

  Defining the qualitative and quantitative requirements that will comply with the user needs and any predefined technical and technological specifications.

• b.

  Establishing the project goals, milestones, and deliverables, including a detailed timetable;

• c.

  Selecting the team that will implement the project, promoting communication and a collaborative environment, typically including designers, engineers, and production managers, aside from marketing personnel.

• d.

  Conceptualizing the part through brainstorming aesthetic concepts, functional issues, ergonomics, and cost aspects.

• e.

  Hand-sketching components, parts, and assemblies, including projections, cross-sections, and perspectives.

• f.

  Creating detailed 3D virtual models that can be used for the multiplicity of purposes described in detail in the next article, including interaction with clients.

• g.

  Prototyping the product (e.g., through rapid prototyping) and producing a prototype mold that can be used to make the final validation for very small series or even for a single item, allowing minor adjustments before starting production. This will also be useful for market testing.

• h.

  Commercializing the product, including marketing, advertisement, and distribution.

Although each of these stages is vital to product design and development, the present discussion focuses on stages 6 and 7, due to the significant advances made in these areas over the past couple of decades. These advances, coupled with the increasing availability of computational resources such as high-speed data exchange, now allow an entirely different approach to collaborative and networked product development, allowing a virtual organization to undertake and successfully implement projects they would have been unable to tackle only a few years ago.

Virtual Modeling

Virtual modeling consists of representing a physical object on a virtual environment. The virtual model is in fact a digital description of the physical object (Baxter, 2006). Any object can be considered here, from a vase to an automobile to a human body part. Usually, the virtual model is created and later visualized on a computer through 3D rendering, or in specific cases, through 2D projections.

Some of the issues that arise when creating a virtual model include: