Product structure management for enterprise business processes in product lifecycle

Product structure is the key information in business processes of product development companies. While created by the design people, the product structure is accessed and referenced by all the people in various departments. However currently there lacks efficient ways to manage the product structure information throughout entire business processes. This study proposes a product structure management model to fulfill requirements and fill in gaps identified. With this proposed model, the product structure is managed in a single data source but can be accessed by different people with various disciplines in the right formats. A prototype has been developed based on the model and implemented in a local mould making company. Result shows the definitive promise to lead to the substantial improvement for industrial applications.