Intelligent support for engineering collaboration
Abstract
Currently in manufacturing, there has been an emphasis on the use of concurrent engineering teams. This is due to the complexity of industrial problems requiring a system view to solve. Modern manufacturing will need to imitate an integrated enterprise. Resources and knowledge vital to the ultimate solutions must be integrated into a cohesive enterprise working toward shared objectives. Researchers and practitioners have found many process gains/losses associated with current CSCW (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work) applications. Two of the key gains have outstanding losses as consequences. The first gain is the explosion of information available to make better, informed decisions. However, this explosion can result in information overload. Also, lack of information integration can cause degraded decision-making. The second key gain is that a more objective analysis can be performed with a system (group) view. The consequences of using groups to solve problems are coordination problems and lack of cooperation among team members. To solve the overload/integration problem, three methods of sharing information were tested using software developed for this thesis, SID (Support for Integrated Design). One method shared all information, and another let the user route the information. The third method involved artificial intelligence software to route information. To solve the coordination problem, the type of facilitator help given was tested. Half of the subjects experienced task help only, and the other half was given facilitator help for the task and for mediating group behavior. The team interactions can be categorized as effective or ineffective. The facilitator then can forward advice to the team members to initiate effective interactions. The emerging results show that intelligent routing of shared information and mediating of the group interactions aid in reducing information overload and promotes time saving, effective.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Eberts, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Industrial engineering|Computer science|Labor relations
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