A Web Enabled Process for Accessing Customized Parametric Designs

Abstract

Parametric design facilitates mass customization, concurrent engineering, optimization, and other product development integration processes used during preliminary and detailed design stages. Automated methods for regenerating and accessing parametric models can significantly reduce the time-to-market of new products. Applications that automate this process have inherent limitations based on the available features in commercial CAD systems. New technologies such as the component technology, used in conjunction with parametric and Internet-based design can eliminate current limitations of CAD applications based on Application Programming Interfaces. Joint educational/industrial examples will be used to illustrate where limitations have been reached with custom CAD applications built on commercial systems lacking the component technology. Furthermore, the CAD Services framework for the development of CAD and Computer-aided Manufacturing/Engineering (CAM/CAE) applications using the component technology will be discussed.