Development of a Remote Collaborative Forging Engineering System

The ever-growing demand for high-quality products with lower cost and shorter time-to-market is a challenge in today’s global market. This paper presents a methodology for merging the new technologies of networking and multimedia, with a conventional forging system to form a remote collaborative forging engineering system. The activities of conventional forging engineering design and manufacturing processes planning were analysed and a structural model is proposed for forging enterprises to investigate and improve their engineering activities. The synergy of networking and multimedia technologies is adopted in communicating and coordinating the activities of the engineers of a multinational enterprise dispersed in different locations, using computer supported cooperative work. For the next generation forging engineering environments, the concept of a remote collaborative forging engineering system provides a new approach and strategy to enhance their competitive advantages; and it also provides a fast, economical and experience-sharing method for the enterprises. An industrial example is used to illustrate the proposed system.