PROCESS IMPROVEMENT IN A VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION FOCUSED ON PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT USING COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS

摘要

Collaborative Engineering Environments (CEE) have become really important in Virtual Organizations (VO) because they enable the coordination and collaboration among engineering groups, supported by tools and methodologies that enable intellectual capital sharing and engineering activities in real time, among organizations regardless of their locations. A platform that integrates and facilitates the operation in Virtual Organizations focused in manufactured product development, is an important tool that supports a rapid respond to customers, and improve the communication among its members. This paper present a way to improve business process in a VO based on the development and use of a CEE. The methodology presented in this paper was implemented in a real manufacturing VO, improving the product transfer process: the coordinators of each business opportunity easily manage VO information, and VO partners were totally involved during the process.