4. Evolution in Mechanical Design Automation and Engineering Knowledge Management

Design activity consists, strictly speaking, in synthesizing something new (or arranging existing things in a new way) to satisfy a recognized need. This activity is accomplished through an iterative, knowledge-based, decision-making process. One of the goals pursued by IT applied to product development has been Design Automation that is the execution of all tasks of the design process of a product by a software application. In this context, engineering knowledge elicitation, representation and management are key issues to achieve the so-called “right the first time” design. This chapter summarizes authors research in Mechanical Design Automation (MDA) domain during the last two decades; it focuses the evolution from CAD centered applications to Object-Oriented (O-O) ones up until the more recent issues related to storing, sharing and reusing of engineering knowledge, the role in PLM approach and the support to decision-making. Finally, the fundamental aspects related to development of real-MDA applications are discussed, on the basis of personal experiences of the authors.