Analyzing large-scale imprecise concurrent engineering systems

Concurrent Engineering (CE) systems tend to be of large-scale and are characterized by having imprecise data. Determining a suitable methodology for analyzing large-scale CE systems with imprecise data is a challenging research issue. In this paper, an approach called Interval-Based Concurrent Engineering Nets (ICE-Nets) is proposed. The main contribution of this work is that it presents a new approach to modeling and analyzing large-scale imprecise CE systems. The abstraction and analysis inherent in ICE-Nets gives several important benefits. First, the abstraction inherent in ICE-Nets offers the potential of being able to handle large-scale CE systems. Second, it allows the use of imprecise data in the form of intervals. Third, it applies a mathematical mechanism to the problem, with the potential of being relatively straightforward to computerize. Fourth, the graphical nature of ICE-Nets allows for users to Interact with the network in a natural fashion.