STEP Services for Sharing Product Models

Abstract

Collaboration between multiple organizations and companies is becoming commonplace for the design and manufacture of large, complex, mechanical systems. These systems include such things as airframes, automobiles and ships. Virtual enterprise is a term often used to describe such collaborations when the participating organizations are distributed over large geographic areas and come from multiple independent companies. A VE allows its member organizations to respond collectively to favorable market conditions for new product development in situations where the members individually would be unable to respond effectively.