# 78 Methods to Support Co-operative Product Development

Abstract

Abstract World-wide distributed product development processes and manufacturer supplier co-operation has become more important in recent years. This requires support for collaboration on the one hand and the administration of the generated data on the other hand. In this paper methods for determination of co-operation needs during distributed product development processes are presented. The particular cooperation situation which shall be supported can be classified by given criteria. New data management methods to support a distributed co-operation process are shown. A mapping scheme is provided that allows to assign these new data management methods to the classified co-operation needs