Advanced engineering environments: achieving the vision

Competitive economic pressures in the global economy are forcing aerospace and other high-technology industries to improve engineering performance. One way to improve project design and management on a global scale is through the development and application of advanced engineering environments (AEEs), which would use advanced computational, communications, and networking facilities and tools to create integrated virtual and distributed computer-based environments linking researchers, technologists, designers, manufacturers, suppliers, and customers. Government, industry, and academia now have a historic opportunity to develop and deploy AEE technologies and systems. Taking advantage of this opportunity, however, requires a long-term effort and must overcome significant technical and cultural barriers. Near term action is also needed-to implement AEE technologies that have matured enough to improve the effectiveness of current practices and to lay the foundation for long-term success in achieving the AEE vision, which the committee describes as follows: AEEs should create an environment that allows organizations to introduce innovation and manage complexity with unprecedented levels of effectiveness in terms of time, cost, and labor