CAD-based design control

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

• access, using modeling logic executing on a processor circuit, a three-dimensional model of a product, the three-dimensional model comprising a feature representing a part of the product, the three-dimensional model associated with model data stored in a non-transitory storage medium, the model data comprising a data structure representing the feature that includes a list of quality characteristics;
• receive an instruction to associate a quality characteristic with the feature wherein the quality characteristic comprises one or more of:
• a minimum value for a parameter of the feature, a maximum value for the parameter of the feature, or a range of values for the parameter of the feature;
• store the quality characteristic in the data structure representing the feature in the model data, the storing comprising constructing a structured data element holding the quality characteristic and adding the structured data element to the list of quality characteristics in the data structure representing the feature;
• access the stored quality characteristic from the data structure representing the feature during a post-design phase of a product lifecycle management process;
• and
• processing the quality characteristic with an electronic device configured to perform a post-design phase action with respect to the product as part of the post-design phase action.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor circuit;
• modeling logic executable on the processor circuit, the modeling logic configured to access a three-dimensional model of a product, the three-dimensional model comprising a feature representing a part of the product, the three-dimensional model associated with model data stored in a non-transitory storage medium, the model data comprising a data structure representing the feature that includes a list of quality characteristics;
• a non-transitory storage medium configured to store model data associated with the three-dimensional model, the model data comprising a data structure representing the feature;
• quality control logic executable on the processor circuit and configured to receive an instruction to associate a quality characteristic with the feature, wherein the quality characteristic comprises one or more of:
• a minimum value for a parameter of the feature, a maximum value for the parameter of the feature, or a range of values for the parameter of the feature, and to store the quality characteristic in the data structure representing the feature in the model data, the storing comprising constructing a structured data element holding the quality characteristic and adding the structured data element to the list of quality characteristics in the data structure representing the feature;
• and
• product lifecycle management logic executable on the processor circuit and configured to access the stored quality characteristic from the data structure representing the feature during a post-design phase of a product lifecycle management process, and to process the quality characteristic with an electronic device configured to perform a post-design phase action with respect to the product as part of the post-design phase action.