CARMEN Technology: Towards a Component CAx System

Abstract

As broader parts of the product development process are becoming supported through computer aided technologies, the role of interoperability between heterogeneous CAx systems involved in this process is becoming more and more important. In the past, many efforts focused on defining formats for exchange of product data, e. g. IGES, STEP. This satisfied the sequential development process and the exchange of simple objects (like technical drawings) but is insufficient for parallel processes and exchange of complex objects. Instead of data formats, efficient mechanisms for tools integration and product data exchange are required. This paper describes embedding of CAx objects in other systems as one possible mechanism to achieve a better integration across different design stages.