Process for structuring and managing the configuration of industrial products, and particularly aircraft

Abstract

This invention relates to a process for structuring and managing the configuration of an industrial product using processing means comprising at least one processor, a memory, data input means and a display screen, in which: a set of technical objects is described, each technical object either representing a product function (EPAC), or describing an implementation method (TDU) for such a product function, in order to achieve a configuration of this product; a database is updated to specify the definition of each technical object and its inter-relations with other objects in the configuration, by an expression of rules and constraints; this database is used interactively and dynamically through a selection of options.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method to structure and manage a configuration of an industrial product, taking account of options selected by a customer, comprising: 
 describing a set of technical objects, each technical object either representing a product function or describing an implementation method for making a product configuration for the product function, the set of technical objects representing manufacturing options of the industrial product;    updating a database for clarifying a definition of each technical object and its inter-relations with other of the technical objects in the product configuration by an expression of rules and constraints; and    interactively and dynamically using said database during definition of the product, through the selection of the options by the customer.    
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein each technical object represents either a function of an aircraft or describes an implementation method of the aircraft function to create an aircraft configuration.  
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method operations use: 
 a knowledge management module;    a contract management module;    an administration module; and    a mass management module;    all working on the database.    
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 3 , 
 wherein the knowledge management module is configured to manage technical objects each representing an aircraft function,    wherein the contract management module is configured to manage fleet configurations of aircraft;    wherein the administration module is configured to manage user profiles, and    wherein the mass management module is configured to manage mass of a customized configuration from data supplied from the contract management module.    
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the industrial product is considered as a set of functions in a functional approach.  
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 3 , wherein the contract management module works in a connected or disconnected mode.  
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein a technical object oriented configuration is used in which the options and corresponding implementation methods are selected directly in a list sorted by at least one of ATA chapter, job category, and sales policy, the selection being made either individually or globally using a global procedure that joins a possible application and a weight to a set of options in a same functional domain.  
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein a functional oriented configuration is used that supplies a functional approach to directly select technical objects, specifying required properties of a functional characteristic.  
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the contract manager is configured to start a configuration checking process at any time.