Product development on the information superhighway or staying out of the electronic breakdown lane

Increasing maturity of the mathematical models used to develop part geometries, and emerging standardization of computing platforms and information exchange, have made extensive sharing of electronic data between design, development, and downstream tasks possible for the first time. For a broad range of engineering products, it is likely that this exchange will profoundly reduce development cycle times and improve life cycle support. This paper explores some of the aspects of this electronic revolution, and identifies areas in which additional work will be required to bring the promise of the new technology to fuller fruition