Important Issues to be Addressed

Several issues need to be addressed by the thesis. These include ownership of and modification access to the parts, both master and individual member parts, storage of the parts, usage of the parts, and maintenance of the library.

Since these parts are standard parts that can just be purchased and used in a product without any modification, the models should have the same properties, they can be included in assembly models without modification. If someone does modify one of the parts, that can cause problems in other products created by other designers. Also, since they are generated parts, any modifications made to the part can be erased by simply regenerating the part. Because of this, the parts should be created and stored somewhere that the average user can not modify the parts. If the users generate the parts themselves, then they own the part, and can modify it at will.

In order to ease maintenance of the family of parts library, they should be stored in a central location. Again, because these are standard, off-the-shelf parts, the models have to be accurate. An inaccurate model can cause severe problems in the assemblies that use it. For this reason, the master part and table have to be checked for accuracy before they are made available for general use. Not just anyone should be allowed to place parts in the library.

Unless the designers can easily find and use the parts, then this process won't save them any effort, and many will simply continue to create the parts on their own. Thus, an efficient method needs to be created to locate the necessary parts.

Last Modified: Wed Aug 28 14:41:29 EDT 1996