Advanced Engineering Environments for Small Manufacturing Enterprises: Volume II

To assist the Small Manufacturing Enterprise (SME) in adopting Advanced Engineering Environments (AEEs), this report provides two self-assessment tools; the Self Assessment Tool for Engineering Environments (SAT-EE) to assist an SME in assessing the adequacy of the current computing support environment in handling technical tasks, and the Self Assessment Tool for Engineering Capabilities (SAT-ETC) to collect the needs and desires of the operation, and map them to the capabilities of specific classes of CAD and CAE tools. These tools help the SME evolve from lower AEE levels to higher ones, shifting operational modes and philosophies to gain the full benefit of the AEE. In choosing an AEE component the SME must consider the tool?s functional capabilities, interoperability, usability, and expandability. Selection, procurement, and installation of a new technology must be followed by tool adoption to integrate it into the SMEs operation. A six-step process based upon the Shewart Cycle has been used successfully to introduce advanced technologies into SMEs.