Cooperative Asset Management System for Engineering Collaboration

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Solution Overview

Problem

In large corporations, there is a challenge in sharing engineering assets and test bills of materials across different departments or with suppliers due to a silo mindset, leading to inefficiencies, duplicated efforts, and lack of motivation for sharing, as current systems do not adequately incentivize or reward employees for collaboration.

Innovation Solution

A computing system with a cooperative architecture that includes a user management subsystem, asset management subsystem, and test management subsystem, utilizing a blockchain-enabled database, social networking platform, and rewards system to create a framework for cataloging, informing, and managing engineering assets, encouraging sharing and collaboration through user profiles, asset repositories, and test bill of materials management.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If employees work independently in separate departments, then each employee can focus on their specific tasks, but duplicated efforts and non-heterogeneous assets are created

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveindividual productivityVSAvoidnumber of duplicated assets

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges previously siloed departmental asset repositories into a unified corporate-wide asset management system. The centralized platform allows all departments to access and contribute to a common repository of engineering assets, test scenarios, and verification procedures, eliminating the need for separate departmental systems and reducing duplication.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The asset management system is designed to serve multiple departments and functions universally. It provides a single platform that can store, manage, and share various types of engineering assets across different divisions, making the system adaptable to diverse needs while maintaining a unified structure that prevents duplication.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Device complexity

If employees are not incentivized to share assets, then the system remains simple to implement, but asset sharing and collaboration are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesystem complexityVSAvoidasset sharing efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a rewards system that provides feedback to employees for sharing assets. The system tracks asset contributions, usage, and impact, then provides recognition and incentives to contributors. This feedback mechanism motivates employees to share assets while the system automatically manages the complexity of tracking and rewarding contributions.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Productivity

If a centralized asset management system is implemented, then asset sharing is improved, but system complexity and implementation difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveasset sharing efficiencyVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an intermediary asset management platform that mediates between individual employees and the corporate asset repository. This intermediary system handles the complexity of asset registration, validation, categorization, and distribution, while providing a simplified interface to users. The intermediary layer absorbs the system complexity, allowing employees to share assets through simple actions without directly managing the complex underlying infrastructure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

4Ease of manufacture

If employees lack knowledge of existing assets, then asset creation is straightforward, but duplicated test assets and longer lead times result

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveease of asset creationVSAvoidlead time for asset development

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by pre-organizing and pre-categorizing engineering assets in the centralized repository before employees need them. The system proactively provides search functionality, recommended assets based on project requirements, and automated matching of assets to project needs. This preliminary preparation allows employees to quickly find and reuse existing assets without having to conduct extensive searches or understand the full scope of available resources.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS12026165B2Cooperative system architecture for engineering asset management and sharing

Publication Date: 2024.07.02 GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC

AI summary

A computing system including a cooperative system architecture for cataloging, informing, sharing, and managing engineering assets within an organization includes a user management subsystem for creating a registered user profile associated with a specific user of the computing system. The registered user profile includes user metadata that provides identifying characteristics of the specific user. The computing system includes an asset management subsystem including an asset repository for recording one or more engineering assets. The asset management subsystem modifies the user metadata of the registered user profile in response to the specific user recording an engineering asset in the asset repository. The computing system includes a test management subsystem including a test repository for recording one or more test bill of materials.