Abstract
In this paper, we propose a fundamental idea of a new CAD mechanism to facilitate design knowledge management. This mechanism encourages a designer to externalise his/her knowledge during a design process and facilitates sharing and reuse of such externalised design knowledge in later stages. We also describe the implementation of this idea called DDMS (Design Documentation Management System). DDMS works as a front end to KIEF (Knowledge Intensive Engineering Framework), which we have been developing. We also illustrate an example of machining tool design to demonstrate the features of DDMS.
