This paper presents a knowledge engineering approach for the elicitation of know-how about engineering processes, the reuse of process patterns and its application to the coordination of simultaneous engineering (SE) teams. Process know-how is instrumental to govern engineering processes in a network of engineering teams as well as to perform process changes. Process know-how also leads to better process awareness, that is, pro-active services deliver related information at the right time to the right person. Our approach is founded in an agent based intelligent process management kit (AgiP). A process repository manages basic building blocks and structures of processes. Valuable design knowledge is collected for re-use in future projects by populating and maintaining the repository. AgiP is complemented by operators for adapting processes as well as orchestrating processes from smaller pieces. Once integrating joint activity planning and continuous re-scheduling in the daily work practice, team members learn to better co-ordinate their individual contributions to the product.
展开▼