We discuss an agent-based design support system for design collaboration and coordination. For design collaboration and coordination, we propose that design and design management should be based on deep product and task models. The model-based design framework presumes that practical product design proceeds by modifying previous product models according to some predefined rules. The modeling rules for a specific design domain also can be specified as a model, called a meta-model. Therefore, it is proposed that the product models and design task models, their meta-models, and the product or design data are all modeled and managed by a meta-modeling framework or tool. Presuming such model-based design, we propose an agent-based collaboration and coordination framework between distributed designers. The framework consists of task managers, product modelers based on a meta-modeler, design support agents, and constraints management agents. We present a small prototype implementation of the framework.
