Distributed management and interchange of information in virtual engineering enterprises using the systemic problem structuring methodology

Due to the massive change of information in the engineering area companies, they are forced to corporate with each other and built virtual engineering enterprises. Our attention is focused on how the companies would like to access the various information in these virtual enterprises. The product quality and manufacturing excellence are no longer enough to compete and dominate in world engineering. The major challenges concerning information management in the engineering sectors can be characterized as follows: With the adoption of new technologies, materials and production processes, the overall volume and diversity of engineering information is increasing rapidly. The complexity of engineering information, product processes, and products is constantly increasing. Moreover, the processes may involve several companies in continuous exchange of various kinds of data (CAD models, specifications, documents). A significant obstacle blocks the emergence and effective use of engineering information and services in a virtual enterprise and that is the inefficient, imprecise and unsecured access to information such as product/component specifications, data sheets, CAD models, documentation and company profiles, or services such as simulation or calculation programs. In this paper the systemic PSM is used to design and describe the Global Engineering Network – GEN – that was created by a group of European enterprises and organizations in order to structure the system for distributed management and interchange of information. Starting from requirements for information management in virtual engineering enterprises we analyze and model the functions of the Global Engineering Network.