Towards Cloud Based Collaborative Design – Analysis in Digital PLM Environment

This paper proposes a cloud-based PLM methodology to carry out collaborative design by implementing industrial scenario representing realistic collaboration among all the stake holders. In a world of advancing information technology and more than ever demand in the requirement of spatially inter connected collaborative work space, cloud based generic design process methodology seems to be a viable option. However, it has been noticed that there has been little effort directed towards Cloud Based Design (CBD). It is a widely accepted fact that nearly 80% of the manufacturing cost of a product is determined by its design process and hence targeting the very same process of PLM is the prime focus in this paper. With an increase in the complexity of products along with the squeezed budget across all industries, there has been a growing demand to have cross company collaboration. To deal with such a complex requirement of communication and coordination between all the players in the design process, this paper links the field of collaborative design and cloud computing to propose paradigm-based solution to cater generic design process. This paper showcases the main advantages when CBD data and legacy CAD data are used to create a unified digital model to achieve a true cross company collaboration by the means of Cloud Based Collaborative Design (CBCD) methodology.