Automated interfacing of design/engineering software with project management software
First Claim
1. A method for the automatic interfacing of a conceptual design tool with a project management tool, said conceptual design tool providing for the early manufacturing involvement information needed to aid and improve the total design and manufacturing effort to produce a final product, said method comprising the steps of:
- using said conceptual design tool, prompting a user to input a functional product structure;
capturing product structure data input by the user in a database;
using said conceptual design tool, prompting a user to input manufacturing details for each item in the functional product structure;
capturing manufacturing detail data input by the user in said database;
prompting a user for rules which determine which items of the product structure are critical;
selecting items from database which fulfill criticality requirements;
ordering selected critical items according to lead times from manufacturing detail data gathered by said conceptual design tool and captured in said database;
formatting the ordered selected items in a file of said project management tool; and
importing the formatted file into said project management tool.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for the automatic interfacing of a conceptual design tool with a project management tool is disclosed. The conceptual design tool provides for the early manufacturing involvement information needed to aid and improve the total design and manufacturing effort to produce a final product. The conceptual design tool is used to build and modify a product structure. Using the conceptual design tool, a user inputs manufacturing details by item in the product structure. When the user invokes the project mangement tool interface, the system prompts the user to select items of the product structure which are critical. The system then orders the selected items according to lead times from manufacturing detail data gathered by the conceptual design tool. The ordered data is then formatted in a file of the project management tool. The formatted file is then imported into the project management tool. In addition, data modified by the project management tool can later be reformatted for export to the conceptual design tool to allow the design process to continue with updated project data.
-
Citations
4 Claims
-
1. A method for the automatic interfacing of a conceptual design tool with a project management tool, said conceptual design tool providing for the early manufacturing involvement information needed to aid and improve the total design and manufacturing effort to produce a final product, said method comprising the steps of:
-
using said conceptual design tool, prompting a user to input a functional product structure; capturing product structure data input by the user in a database; using said conceptual design tool, prompting a user to input manufacturing details for each item in the functional product structure; capturing manufacturing detail data input by the user in said database; prompting a user for rules which determine which items of the product structure are critical; selecting items from database which fulfill criticality requirements; ordering selected critical items according to lead times from manufacturing detail data gathered by said conceptual design tool and captured in said database; formatting the ordered selected items in a file of said project management tool; and importing the formatted file into said project management tool. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
Specification