Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2002) 20:896–906 Ownership and Copyright  2002 Springer-Verlag London Limited STEP-Based Multiview Integrated Product Modelling for Concurrent Engineering K.-S. Chin 1 , Y. Zhao 2 and C. K. Mok 1 1 Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management, City University of Hong Kong; 2 Institute of Manufacturing Systems, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics The demand for high-quality and low-cost products with a short development time for the dynamic global market has forced researchers and industries to focus on various effective product development strategies. Product modelling has been recognised as one of the key factors in determining the success of various product development strategies and for industrial competitiveness now and in the future. This paper proposes a methodology that represents multiview integrated product modelling based on the outcome of a research project on ISO 10303 STEP. The methodology consists of the architecture and information requirements for an integrated product model and a mapping mechanism for the multiview operations of the model, which support product development in a concurrent engineering environment. This methodology will facilitate further research in developing sophisticated product modelling for concurrent product development. Keywords: Concurrent engineering; Integrated product devel- opment; Multiview; Product model 1. Introduction Manufacturing competitiveness supports sustained growth and earnings through building customer loyalty by creating high- value products for the very dynamic global market [1]. The demand for higher quality and lower cost products with shorter development time has forced industries to focus on the various new product development strategies. It is well known that computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) is an advanced manufacturing system using information technology, which involves the interconnection of different technical and manage- ment functions within a company [2]. Concurrent engineering (CE) has been proposed and defined by many researchers as a means to minimise product development time [3–10]. CE is a systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of Correspondence and offprint requests to: Dr K. S. Chin, Department of Manufacturing Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Hong Kong, China, E-mail mekschin@cityu.edu.hk products and their related processes, including manufacture and support. This approach is intended to cause the developers, from the outset, to consider all the elements of the product life-cycle from conception through disposal, including quality, cost, schedule, and user requirements [5]. Other strategies, such as lean production, [11,12], agile manufacturing [13,14], virtual manufacturing [15–17], holonic manufacturing [18,19], continu- ous acquisition and life-cycle support (CALS – formerly known as computer-aided acquisition and logistics support) [20] and knowledge-based intelligent system approach [21], all contrib- ute in different ways to product development (from conceptual design to production and distribution) to enhance the indus- trial competitiveness. The integrated product design and development process, as represented by all of the above strategies, is the foundation of the final product realisation, which involves numerous manage- ment and information technologies. The truth is that technology only enables these strategies, it does not create them [22]. The changes in market conditions are driving the usage of the new emerging technologies, which in turn is driven by the changing processes it has to support. Product modelling is considered to be one of the key technologies that enables the realisation of these strategies during product development activities. Figure 1 shows the scope of complete product modelling, in which enterprise objective, enterprise development strategies, enterprise manufacturing resources and product realisation pro- cess are four major factors relating to how to develop, to maintain and subsequently to use product models within an Fig. 1. The realm of product modelling.