Web applications in the product introduction process (WAPIP)

There has been widespread interest in the development and application of the World Wide Web (WWW) to support decision-making activities in product design and manufacture. An increasing number of web applications are emerging and a large number of practitioners are trying these web-based decision support systems. In the meantime, it becomes increasingly difficult to surf for appropriate web applications on the Internet using general-purpose search engines. This paper describes a web site, WAPIP, that has been developed specifically to support new product introduction activities. It provides databases for software vendors and researchers to register their web applications with the WAPIP search engine. It also provides facilities to support practitioners in product design and manufacture to search rapidly for the web applications that are suitable for solving their problems. This paper discusses the various issues regarding the design, development and operation of this WAPIP search engine.