Product knowledge support needs are compared in two companies with different
production volumes and product complexity. Knowledge support requirements
identified include: function, performance data, requirements data, common parts,
regulatory guidelines and layout data. A process based data driven knowledge
reuse method is evaluated in light of the identified product knowledge needs.
The evaluation takes place through developing a pilot case with each company. It
is found that the method provides more benefit to the high complexity design
domain, in which a significant amount of work takes place at the conceptual
design stages, relying on a conceptual product representation. There is not such
a clear value proposition in a design environment whose main challenge is layout
design and the application of standard parts and features. The method supports
the requirement for conceptual product representation but does not fully support
a standard parts library.