Collaborative Engineering

Collaborative Engineering is the practical application of collaboration sciences to the engineering domain. Its aim is to enable engineers and engineering companies to work more effectively with all stakeholders in achieving rational agreements and performing collaborative actions across various cultural, discipli- nary, geographic and temporal boundaries. It has been widely applied to product design, manufacturing, construction, enterprise-level collaboration and supply chain management. The present chapter clarifies the main concepts around Collaborative Engineering, as well as the various forms of collaborative ventures, such as virtual enterprises. It underlies the crucial impact of Collaborative Engineering in the context of global distributed engineering. The most applied forms of technology for collaboration are presented, such as Computer Supported Collaborative Design (CSCD) and web-based design, which are mature fields of study in constant improvement, as collaborative tools and cloud-based systems become more pervasive. The application of Collaborative Engineering in the context of product lifecycle is also discussed, and different needs for collaboration are evi- denced along successive steppingstones of product development. Two case studies are provided to illustrate successful application of the concepts hereby provided.