Information models to support the interaction between design for assembly and assembly process planning

Sharing of information is an important issue in supporting the improvement in product development. The use of information models is an approach to support the intensive share of information required in concurrent engineering through the life cycle of the product. The paper explores the definition of the structure of information models for supporting the related processes of design for assembly and assembly process planning. This research takes the view that the information models required to support DFA and APP is captured in a product model and in a manufacturing model. A product model is the representation of the information about a product and the manufacturing model captures the facilities and capabilities of the enterprise. The key problem discussed is the structure of these information models that would allow not only the information support for the functionality of DFA and APP, but also their interaction in a shared environment.