PLM and design education: a collaborative experiment on a mechanical device

Abstract

The shift from sequential to concurrent engineering has initiated changes in the way design projects are managed. In order to assist designers, numerous effective tools have been devised for collaborative engineering, which are also well suited to the business world. Faced with these new challenges, practices in design training must evolve to allow students to be mindful of these evolutions as well as to be able to manage projects in these new work environments. After presenting a state of the art of collaborative tools used in product design, our paper presents an experiment focusing on the codesign of a complex mechanical product. This experiment was carried out between two centers of the Arts et Metiers ParisTech School of Engineering, located in Paris and Angers. We analyze the results obtained in this experiment and discuss some ways to improve future projects for inter-centre training programs in design engineering.