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) assists an SME in assessing the adequacy of the current computing support environment in handling technical tasks. The Self-Assessment Tool for Engineering Tool Capabilities (SAT-ETC) enables the SME to collect data on the needs of the company, and maps it to specific classes of AEE tools. An SME may migrate to higher AEE levels through an orderly sequence of steps. Migration success is enhanced by careful attention to AEE component selection and by application of a defined technology adoption process.