Modern Tools for Communication in Concurrent Engineering

The increasing complexity of products and the need for delivering the best design in the shortest possible timeframe have driven many companies to use multidisciplinary teams to conceive and develop new products. Multidisciplinary product teams have the benefits of increased skill diversity and often a corresponding increased level of creativity due to the diverse nature of the team members. However, in order for teams to be highly effective members must be able to communicate with each other even if they are in different locations and work at different times. A key part of team communication is constant access to up to date information. An effective way of facilitating team communication is internet based communication tools. They provide a means for team members located around the world to have instant access to pertinent information while allowing team leaders to maintain control of information flow. In this paper the authors document the adoption of four internet based communication tools, Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Baja SAE® racing team and the effect they had on team communication and effectiveness. The RIT Baja SAE® race team is an excellent example for demonstrating the effectiveness of internet based tools because members of the team have diverse backgrounds, have varying schedules, and need to work from a variety of locations. The implementation of internet based tools resulted in the RIT Baja SAE® team increasing the number of on time design completions, lowering production costs due to the reduction of subsystem interferences, and an improved showing at the competitions the team attended.