New business models and more integrated product development processes require designers to make use of knowledge more efficiently. Capture and reuse are means of coping, but support, techniques, and mechanisms have yet to be sufficiently addressed. This paper consequently explores how computer-aided technologies (CAx) and a computer-aided design (CAD) model-oriented approach can be used to improve the efficiency of design module capture and representation for product family reuse. The first contribution of this paper is the investigation performed at a Swedish manufacturing company and a set of identified challenges related to design capture and representation for reuse in product family development. The second contribution is a demonstrated and evaluated set of systems and tools, which exemplifies how these challenges can be approached. Efficient design capture is achieved by a combination of automated and simplified design capture, derived from the design implementation (CAD model definition) to the extent possible. Different design representations can then be accessed by the designer using the CAD-internal tool interface. A web application is an example of more generalpurpose representation to tailor design content, all of which is managed by a product lifecycle management (PLM) system. Design capture is based on a modular view block definition, stored in formal information models, management by a PLM system, for consistent and reliable design content. It was, however, introduced to support the rich and expressive forms of capture and representation required to facilitate understanding, use, and reuse of varied and increasingly complex designs. A key element in being able to describe a complex design and its implementation has been capture and representation of a set of design states. The solution has been demonstrated to effectively be able to capture and represent significant portions of a step-by-step design training material and the implementation of complex design module through a set of design decisions taken. The validity and relevance of the proposed solution is strengthened by the level of acceptance and perceived value from experienced users, together with the fact that the company is implementing parts of it today

This paper features the implementation and evaluation of a proposed approach for information capture and representation integrated into the existing design environments at two manufacturing companies. A tool has been developed that automatically derives information from the CAD system during design and provides users with the means to capture product information that has previously been documented outside of the CAD system. Product information is managed in a PLM data model and becomes, once stored, the foundation for providing tailored views of information.Feedback from the evaluation shows that the prescribed approach was preferred to the current one and that it would likely provide value to users, both authors and consumers, of product information. This approach can reduce the time required to capture the pertinent product information. However, the primary savings are likely to be indirect as a result of increased consistency, understanding, and the potential (re)use of product information.The approach and tools presented constitute another step toward providing each stakeholder with more efficient, intuitive, contextual, and purposeful support for information capture and representation in computer-aided product development.

The amount of product and process related information in the engineering industry is large and constantly growing. Methods and tools are therefore needed to effectively leverage the information, ensuring that it is readily available, contextually understandable and usable for the activity at hand. This paper presents findings from two cases performed at manufacturing companies and an approach for how information effectively can be utilized during the development and lifecycle of a product. The approach primarily addresses the lack of up-to-date information, free of redundancies and accessible from the context where it is needed or will be captured.

Modern manufacturers rely increasingly on overlapping activities and frequent, bilateral exchange of preliminary information, adding to the complexity of information exchange and general reuse. The approach presented in this paper relies on a reuse process, embedded in the design environment already used, to avoid disrupting the design process and to increase the foundation upon which decisions are made. The proposed approach relies on Knowledge Based Extensions to commercial CAE systems and 3D CAE models to enable and ensure Simulation Driven Design capabilities and contextual communication within the early stages of product development. The approach has been shown to increase the simulation-driven capabilities in a business-to-business scenario, and in extension, increase the foundation upon which decisions are made and the likelihood of reaching a feasible and optimal final design. In conclusion, a simulation-driven design approach to product development has to be more than enabled to truly make a difference in the development process. Investigation and evaluations show that supporting tools and relevant information must be made readily available, intuitive, integrated into the environment where they are needed and, ultimately, be perceived as a natural part of daily development in order for them to be accepted and used.

Welding is one of the most commonly used methods of joining metal pieces. In product development it is often desirable to predict residual stresses and distortions to verify that e.g., alignment tolerances, strength demands, fatigue requirements, stress corrosion cracking, etc. are fulfilled. The objective of this paper is to derive a strategy to improve the efficiency of welding simulations aiming at a (future) simulation-driven design methodology. In this paper, a weld bead deposition technique called block dumping has been applied to improve the efficiency. The proposed strategy is divided into seven steps, where the first four steps are verified by two welding simulation cases (a benchmark problem for a single weld bead-on-plate specimen and a T-welded structure). This study shows that by use of the block dumping technique, the computation time can be reduced by as much as 93% compared to moving heat source, still with acceptable accuracy of the model.

Many rotating machineries are supported by bearings with clearance, which are further clamped in, compared to the bearing stiffness, weak pedestals. As have been reported in several studies, it is essential to choose a proper clearance in order to avoid unwanted vibrations. When rotating machineries supported by bearings with clearance are subjected to stationary loads (gravity, magnetic pull etc.), it may not loose contact between the shaft and the bearing (i.e. full contact). However, even in full contact unwanted dynamics can occur which is of interest in this paper. It is found that the clearance give raise to anisotropic pedestal stiffness. It is further shown that some of the resonance frequencies decrease with the clearance.

In order to ensure competitive advantage, manufacturers need to reduce the time and resources spent on development without affecting the quality and performance of the final product. Studies show that designers are likely to change both job and company several times during their career. The loss of experience and expertise implies that new methods for efficient knowledge retention and reuse need to be developed. Results presented in this paper include development and implementation of a previously proposed method suggesting the use of CAD models as carriers of knowledge. The method has been further developed and realised in a three-part demonstrator, each part addressing one aspect of a holistic approach to efficient knowledge retention and reuse. The approach presented here does not require the use of any additional applications during product development and it ensures that the designer has access to necessary information, where and when it is needed. This approach also results in less time spent on documentation, data conversion and information retrieval.

Today's automotive industry produces more new car models in a shorter time than ever before. Every car model comes in many different versions regarding number of doors, engine, transmission etc while being built on a platform strategy. This leads to a lot of different knowledge and information that needs to be tracked for the different components in addition to other information e.g. what function does design features have, why is this radius not smaller etc. Volvo Car Corporation (VCC) is in need of an effective method to save and present all this knowledge and information today. This paper describes a new method, to gather and save knowledge and information about car body parts also called body-inwhite, which was implemented in a demonstrator and tested and evaluated on VCC.