GSTF International Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.1 No.1, 2012

Modern Tools for Communication in Concurrent Engineering Joseph LaCarte, James Lee Ph.D, Robert Garrick Ph.D, Larry Villasmil Ph.D

Abstract—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.

One definition of CE by H. R Parsaei and W.G. Sullivan is “the increased role of manufacturing process design in product design decisions, the formation of cross-functional teams to accomplish the development process, a focus on the customer during the development process, and the use of lead time as a source of competitive advantage” [2]. One of the major points of this definition is to integrate manufacturing into the design decisions. Often designers remove themselves from the manufacturing aspects of their product leading to increased costs in the product life cycle. It can be costly in terms of both time and money. For example, if a designer builds a part that is not manufacturable and it doesn’t get identified until later in the product development process it can result in substantial losses of time and money. Design and manufacturing should work hand in hand to develop a product that is both functional and manufacturable. The definition CE also focuses on forming cross functional teams consisting of member from varying disciplines and backgrounds [3], [4]. Cross functional teams are especially important when the products life cycle requires a large variety of disciplines. For instance, marketing and design have a strong need to interact very early on in the development of a product. Idea generation is often best suited in an environment where the people have different backgrounds and mindsets. The use of these teams is a vital part of CE [5]. A major issue addressed by CE is maintaining communication between the many people with unique backgrounds involved in maintaining the life cycle of a product. Multiple tools such as Google Docs, Snagit, Product Data Management (PDM), Facebook, and phone applications can be utilized to manage the large amounts of data required for product teams to communicate effectively [6]. Having a seamless communication system can be a distinct advantage for today’s rapidly changing marketplace. In addition, maintaining the information (data) in a robust system is a challenge for many corporations today. With massive amounts of data, being able to effectively store and search for the data is of primary importance. These problems are faced in organizations of all types and sizes. One organization that experiences these issues is the RIT Baja SAE® team. The problems previously described are a constant struggle for this competing organization due to the many students involved in the design, building, and racing of a custom built off-road race

Index Term—Communication Tools, Concurrent Engineering, Internet Design Tools, Product Data Management

I. INTRODUCTION

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URING its life cycle a product will come in contact with many people with different motivations, backgrounds, and in different locations. Due to the differences, complications can arise between these people during a product’s life cycle. Considerations of the many functions of a product are often not thought of throughout the entire process. An idea and methodology has been developed around bringing these different groups together in the product life cycle. This ideology aims to maintain the needs of the product requirements at each stage until the products are completed. Concurrent engineering (CE) is a term often used for the method of thinking intended to keeping the groups of product development in communication [1].

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car. The remainder of this paper discusses the design and manufacturing problems experienced by the RIT Baja SAE® in detail, characterize the solutions implemented to solve these problems and discusses the results.

needed to make the design process more effective and enable RIT to produce a winning vehicle. The challenges faced by the executive structure and design team parallel those experienced by industry. These similarities make the concurrent engineering solutions provided later in the paper viable for any industry requiring effective communication between diverse individuals in multiple locations [7], [8]. In the following sections the communication tools employed by the RIT Baja SAE® race team and the effect they had on the design and build of their race car are presented.

II. PROBLEM STATEMENT Designing, integrating, and building complex systems is a challenge for any organization. There can be hundreds and possibly thousands of components and details that have to be coordinated. As a result of the incredible volume of components, details and tasks, organization and coordination between personnel become critical. The design team of the RIT Baja SAE® Race Team continually faces challenges regarding organization and communication because of the many students involved with the team whose membership is constantly changing. In order to successfully design, build, and race a vehicle multiple subsystems need to be designed and built and they must work together flawlessly. Orders need to be made and components need to be inventoried. The aim of this section is to describe in detail the issues challenging the RIT Baja SAE® team in terms of time, productivity and cost. The RIT Baja team consists of a design team with 8-10 subsystem teams as well as an executive structure. The design teams are organized by function, such as driveline, suspension, and steering. In addition there is a team dedicated to manufacturing and an executive board whose job it is to facilitate communication between all teams. The team framework is very structured in that each design member focuses solely on making their respective system the best. The benefit of this structure is that subsystems can work concurrently and focus on the performance of their subsystem. The difficulty with the system approach is that a pseudo barrier is formed with an inherent isolation between design team members. Often direct contact between subsystems is not made until system integration resulting in significant issues of fit and function. The communication issue is further complicated during the manufacturing phase of the race car development process. For manufacturing, like systems integration, communication between the design teams and the manufacturing team is often limited until the start of the manufacturing process. This lack of communication causes significant delays and rework both of which are costly in terms of time and money. The project manager is responsible for keeping the timeline as well as ensuring a fully functional car. The role of the project manager is to break down the barriers between subsystems and barriers between the subsystems and the manufacturing team. Due to the lack of direct communication between subsystem and manufacturing teams the position of project manager is very difficult and typically project managers are ineffective in preventing design conflicts from occurring. Means for preventing conflicts from occurring early in the design process were

III. COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS After researching communication tools and methods it became apparent that solutions exist for solving the RIT Baja SAE® team’s issues. Because team members have very different schedules, they work from a variety of locations, and the team has very limited funds, the tools chosen had to be low cost, accessible by multiple team members from different locations, and easy to use [9]. It was determined that any computer with the correct program installed and an internet connection should be able to access and modify team information. The tools chosen to aid the RIT Baja SAE® team were Google spreadsheets and Google calendar within the Google Docs platform, and the SolidWorks PDM group. Detailed descriptions of the programs, how the RIT Baja SAE® team utilized them, and how they can be applied to solve communications issues in industry are described in the following text. A. Google Docs Platform Google Docs are internet based media that allows simultaneous editing of documents in real time by multiple users. The product allows information to be saved and updated as it is created. This tool facilitates group documentation seamlessly. Google describes Google Docs as “a suite of products that lets you create different kinds of online documents, work on them in real time with other people, and store your documents and your other files -- all online, and all for free [10].” The Google Docs platform has a variety of programs that can be used to facilitate and document the communication of teams with members distributed all over the world. The programs include Google Documents which is the Google Docs online word processor, Google Spreadsheets, Google Presentations, Google Drawings, Google Calendar, and a constant influx of Google development programs. Note that Google Docs is the name of the software suite that contains these products and Google Documents refers to the word processor product. The RIT Baja SAE® team adopted Google Spreadsheets to build design and production schedules, maintain part lists, and document calculations. Google Calendar was adopted to coordinate all time sensitive material such as team meetings, delivery schedules, and manufacturing schedules. How these two programs are employed to 95

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facilitate team communication will be discussed in detail in the next two sections. 1) Using Google Spreadsheets: Google Spreadsheets was a major building block throughout the product cycle for many components on the RIT Baja SAE® vehicle. Google describes Google Spreadsheets as “an online spreadsheet application that lets you create and format spreadsheets, charts, and gadgets, and simultaneously work with other people [10].” The program allows multiple parts to be tracked through several processes. Google Spreadsheets is a medium to couple very detailed parts lists with processing information and assembly information. This was all done with input from many critical functions in real time. Having current information proved very useful in determining design decisions. The following information characterizes the highlights as well as examples of some of the many uses of Google Spread sheets. Possible uses: process flow chart creation and tracking, Gantt charts, inventory tracking, purchasing documentation, bearing calculator worksheet, shear and bending stress calculator, pressure and velocity determination, gear force calculator, gear geometry calculations, outgoing and incoming charting, sponsor database, creating forms for orders, budgeting, and many others. Pros: cell phone application available so members could access from a smart phone, updating in real time, the document creator has control of the people who can view the document and edit it, there is no limit to the number of people who can share a document, changes to a document are catalogued, there is a built in equation editor, a fully capable spreadsheet with all the standard features of computer based versions, and online community forums for sharing spreadsheet ideas. Cons: without an internet connection live updating, saving, many document controls and document help does not work. Without an internet connection Google Spreadsheets has only limited functionality. Finally, when multiple users are editing a document at the same time the program has a tendency to be slow and cumbersome. Use for RIT Baja SAE®: The specific functions of Google Spreadsheets utilized by each RIT team varied depending on the focus of the team. One use of this program was as a way for the Treasurer to screen orders. All of the approved orders were listed in a spread sheet and updates were made as the parts were ordered and again when they were delivered. Another use for Google Spreadsheets was for communicating updated priority lists from project managers in real time. These updates were incredibly useful because members were able to check up to the minute priority lists due to a smart phone application enabling mobile access to Google Docs. The instantaneous availability of up to date information allowed it to be very fluid and greatly reduced the number of mistakes and required design rework. Relating back to concurrent engineering communication tools, Google Spreadsheets performs as a method for multiple people to simultaneously view documents in real

time. This product also allows multiple users to have input. Spreadsheets do a fantastic job of keeping very liquid information available and transparent to the many people who require it. Concurrent engineering’s goal to get multiple facets involved early on the life cycle is realized through Google Spreadsheets. 2) Using Google Calendar: When team members are spread across a campus or across the globe it is imperative that all team members have access to accurate and timely information concerning the events associated with the development of the product. A web based calendar like Google Calendar allows team members to view design and production schedules, schedule team activities, and keep abreast of all of the events that are important to the team. Possible uses: event planning and scheduling, project planning, production plans, to do lists for each sub-team, a central location for individual calendars for team members, and a central location for time management tools such as organizational documents and process flow sheets. Pros: multiple users can update the calendar simultaneously, same look and use as personal calendars, smart phone accessible, e-mail reminders for important events, events can be marked public or private, intuitive use, excellent tutorials. Cons: Must have access to the internet to obtain information and update, information can get clustered if multiple tasks occur at one time, limited task prioritization feature, calendar automatically tied to an e-mail address so if a user requires multiple accounts they must use more than one e-mail address. Use for RIT Baja SAE®: One use for the web based calendar is to coordinate the activity surrounding a race event. A typical Baja SAE® race involves between 15 to 20 team members to transport, assemble, test, and race one car. Team members must coordinate seamlessly to ensure the best showing for the team. The use of a web based calendar provides a medium where members can place their information and the project manager can mediate their timelines to integrate everyone into one stream line calendar. Having a central location to place events and deadlines allowed members to share their timeline as well as see other system deadlines. Google calendar provides a great platform for advance planning. It allows for a very flexible timeline to be created. The online nature of the product makes sharing it with multiple team members very easy. If the schedule for integrating two systems such as steering and frame is inconsistent, a platform exists to change it and communicate it to multiple members effortlessly. The ideas behind concurrent engineering can be realized easily through a web based calendar like Google Calendar. The time it takes to set up the system for a team is recuperated after the first few changes to a timeline are made and communicated. B. SolidWorks Enterprise PDM/Product Data Management

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Usse for RIT Bajaa SAE®: The RIT R Baja SAE E® team uses PDM M extensively to organize, modify, andd utilize the technnical drawingss and computer models of thhe race cars. The RIT R Baja SAE E® car is organnized such thaat the overall assem mbly is the fulll car model and a the sub assemblies are everyy system thatt gets integraated into that model. An exam mple model orgganizational strructure is givenn in Figure 1 and the t associated computer moodel is shown in Figure 2. The organization o sttructure and im mage are that of a reduction box used u in the poower train of the t car. The reeduction box has over o 100 partss so it is criticcal that the moodel be very organnized and welll developed. The T driveline assembly a can be organized with PDM such that t this very complicated systeem is broken doown into smalller assemblies which break downn into individual componeents. This orrganizational abilitty makes it very v easy in a concurrent engineering settinng for multiplle disciplines to look over assemblies. This was often the case for the members m of the Baja SAE® m. Team PD DM as a concuurrent engineering tool is invaaluable for a compplex design consisting c of multiple m subsyystems with inputt from multipple team mem mbers. The orrganizational abilitty of a PDM syystem and the enabling of multiple m users to sim multaneously access a design information booth facilitate increeased teamworkk and reduced development times t [12].

A Product Daata Managemeent (PDM) syystem such ass SolidWorks PDM M allows for multiple team m members too shaare and eddit drawings and compputer modelss sim multaneously. A PDM system m is capable off implementingg revvision controol to ensuree proper conntrol of thee moodifications annd updates maade by individdual members. Coontrols can bee set up so that t key persoonnel need too appprove modifiications before the moddifications aree pubblished to all team t members. Alternativelyy a system cann be configured so that all team members m havee instant accesss ns so that a virtual brainn to changes andd modification stoorming sessionn can be held. According to Dassaultt sysstems, the com mpany that prod duces SolidWoorks Enterprisee PD DM the softw ware is “easy y to implemeent and fullyy cusstomizable, SolidWorks S Enterprise E PD DM efficientlyy guides your prooduct teams through yourr developmentt proocesses, ensuriing that team members havee access to thee rigght files at the right time [11].” The statem ment about thee acccess to the righht files at the right r time is one of the mostt im mportant featurees of this progrram. Sections can be dividedd forr just manufacturing prints and a just designn or consultingg priints. SolidWorks PDM is a great start to developing d thee habbits of Concurrrent Engineerin ng. P Possible usess: Document storage and organization, Coonfiguration control, c Part Revision Vault, V and a Coomponent-subaassembly-assem mbly toolbox. P Pros: Stores and a organizes large numberrs of drawingss andd computer moodels, storage organization o iss customizable, priints attach direectly to modelss and assembliies, access cann be remote, accesss levels can bee assigned to individual i userr mes to controol editing, doccumentation trracking for alll nam revvisions, allowss for part reccovery if com mputer crashes, cusstomizable pacckages for addiing new parts/ assemblies. C Cons: Remotee access very dependent d on internet i speed, revvision controlss are not intuiitive, editing existing e folderr loccation is very time t intensive,, reverting to old o revisions iss com mplicated and time consumin ng.

Figg. 2. Computer Aidded Design Model of a Reduction Boox in an RIT Bajja SAE® Race Carr.

IV. CONCLU USION Thhe results expeerienced by thhe RIT Baja SAE® team from m implementingg the three webb based tools foor concurrent enginneering discusssed in this paper p were positive. The numbber of phone calls requiredd by the projeect manager abouut the result of o daily activitties reduced significantly. s Callss between design d team members weere reduced substtantially as weell. There was only one mispplaced order comppared to over five fi in previouss years. Gooogle Spreadshheets provided a platform to calculate c and manaage processes. The ability to t share inforrmation with multiiple people and the verrsatility of thhe program

Fig. 1. Subassembbly Organization fo F or a Reduction Boxx in an RIT Baja S SAE® Race Car.

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significantly reduced the time required for tracking parts. Using a web based spreadsheet to perform design analysis allowed other members of the team, with different backgrounds, to check design calculations quickly and easily. As a result of implementing Google Calendar an increase in the number of design deadlines achieved increased by 20%. Less time was lost because all team members knew where to find the information they needed to perform their functions. The answer for reducing the number of missed deadlines was the increase in effectively communication between team members. SolidWorks PDM allowed the modeling aspect as well as the systems integration portion of the design to be executed in a more organized fashion than previous years. The time spent searching for parts and prints was eliminated and there were no miscommunications about the parts being produced. The most up to date prints were always used for fabrication because the build protocols required the operator to access the most recent print from PDM. The web based tools facilitated concurrent engineering and increased organization resulting in the savings of noticeable amounts of time and money. The ability to access the information from the three tools from anywhere with internet access made the information flow easily and quickly. The amount of effective communication in the planning, design, manufacture and purchasing portions of the product life cycle greatly increased. With minimal initial set-up these web based tools proved to be invaluable concurrent engineering tools.

[9] G. Fleishman, “GOOGLE DOCS STORAGE,” Macworld, vol. 27, no. 5, p. 45, 2010. [10] Google, “An Overview of Google Docs,” p. 1, 2012. [11] “SolidWorks Enterprise PDM.” Dassault Systems, pp. 1-2, 2012. [12] N. Do and G. Chae, “A Product Data Management architecture for integrating hardware and software development,” Computers in Industry, vol. 62, no. 8–9, pp. 854–863, Oct. 2011.

Joseph M. LaCarte was born in Rochester New York, July 25th 1990. Joe plans to graduate with a BS in Mechanical Engineering Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, expected May of 2013. Currently he works as a Co-Op Engineer at Rochester Gear, Rochester, NY. He previously worked at Parker Hannifin GTFSD as a Co-Op Engineer. Research interests include Gear Finite Element Analysis and communication tools utilizing technology. LaCarte: SAE, SME, Xerox endowment scholarship, RIT Baja SAE® Team Leader James H. Lee was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, February 23rd, 1963. James graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station Texas. Currently he works for the Rochester Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He previously worked for General Motors Corporation as a Senior Research Engineer. Research interests include internal combustion engines, alternative energy, and design processes.

IV. REFERENCES [1] M. G. Marchetta, F. Mayer, and R. Q. Forradellas, “A reference framework following a proactive approach for Product Lifecycle Management,” Computers in Industry, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 672–683, Sep. 2011. [2] Concurrent Engineering: Contemporary Issues and Modern Design Tools, 1st ed. London ; New York: Chapman & Hall, pp. 3-23, 1993. [3] W. Shen, Q. Hao, and W. Li, “Computer supported collaborative design: Retrospective and perspective,” Computers in Industry, vol. 59, no. 9, pp. 855–862, Dec. 2008. [4] J.-Y. Shiau and H. M. Wee, “A distributed change control workflow for collaborative design network,” Computers in Industry, vol. 59, no. 2–3, pp. 119–127, Mar. 2008. [5] E. C. K. Chan, “A framework of ontology-enabled product knowledge management,” INT J PROD DEV, vol. 4, no. 3/4, p. 241, 2007. [6] C. Anderton, “Living in the Clouds,” Pro Sound News, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 26,29, Jan-2009. [7] T. Green, “TechSpotting: Observations of Technology Integration and Application,” TechTrends, vol. 54, no. 2, pp. 24–26, Apr. 2010. [8] M. H. Weier, “A Cautionary Tale, Brought To You From The Cloud,” INF WEEK, no. 1222, p. 20, 2009.

Dr. Lee: Society of Automotive Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Eisenhower Fellow.

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