Online collaboration in virtual product development results from the IMS RPD 2001 project single spacing

With new demands on the product development process major changes are taking place. Products of higher complexity are to be developed in even shorter lead-time. To match these demands the very experts have to co-operate with a very high level of knowledge exchange. With this the need for concepts and methods rises that allow co-operation even beyond organisational borders. With the approaches of "Rapid Virtual Enterprises" (RVE) the idea of almost instant constitution of structures is supported that make collaboration possible in a scenario of highest time constraints. While collaboration is already feasible within company borders at present co-operation among different companies needs thorough preperation. Most importantly the constraints of the co-operation as well as the different workflow processes in the rapid virtual enterprise have to be defined before RVE can start operation. This paper presents the needs for communication tools in a Virtual Enterprise as well as the tool itself for the support of collaboration in developing a product. With such the product development process can be accelerated and improved utilizing the knowledge and specific expertise of different partners already at an early point of the development process.