Date of Award

Spring 2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Computer Graphics Technology

First Advisor

Nathan Hartman

Committee Chair

Nathan Hartman

Committee Member 1

Patrick Connolly

Committee Member 2

Amy Mueller

Abstract

In industry currently Computer Aided Design (CAD) is an important tool for the modification, analysis, or optimization of the 3D virtual environment that replicates the physical product. CAD software is an efficient and reliable tool. However, as globalization increases customer demands, this process needs to be faster and more efficient to accommodate changing product design situations, especially for Engineer-to- Order (ETO) products. ^ The traditional method of product design process is to operate CAD software without argumentation. Design engineers create CAD prototypes and drawings based on available knowledge and information which comes from engineering experts, company standards, industrial practices as well as other sources. Research has shown that 80% of knowledge is not captured in the system. It can be time consuming for the design engineer to provide an accurate and consistent virtual product. Researchers have found that the traditional method is unreliable, inaccurate and inefficient. There is room for improvement in the product design situation for ETO products. There is a need to develop a design method that is faster and reduces costs. ^ Knowledge Base Engineering (KBE) is an alternative system that is built to capture and reuse knowledge. KBE technology is well known for reducing lead-time and design errors using automation. Through integrating KBE technology with CAD software, design engineers create virtual product configurations by applying a scripting language to the CAD model. It requires time and effort invested in a different way than traditional design method, which may cost more to develop. However it is more efficient and accurate when producing multiple configurations. ^ This research experiment is to define a better design method for the ETO product situation by comparing the traditional design method with the KBE/CAD integration method. The research question is "Is the Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) integration design approach more efficient for the reduction of lead time and design error than the traditional method for Engineering-to- Order (ETO) product situations".

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