Developing engineering processes through integrated modelling of product and process

This article aims at developing an operational tool for integrated modelling of product assortments and engineering processes in companies making customer specific products. Integrating a product model in the design of engineering processes will provide a deeper understanding of the engineering activities as well as insight into how product features affect the engineering processes.

The article suggests possible ways of integrating models of products with models of engineering processes. The models have been tested and further developed in an action research study carried out in collaboration with a major international engineering company.