Abstract: Shortcomings of cost reduction in product design process which the knowledge domain is too wide and the knowledge representation is hard to uniform are analyzed and the framework of cost reduction system based on multi-agent is proposed. Construction, operating principle and knowledge types of all sub agents which compose the multi-agent framework are described in detail. Conflict resolution and collaboration mechanism are discussed. A case is reconstructed to show the validity of the method.

Key words: Collaboration, Conflict resolution, Cost reduction, Multi-agent, Non-destructive testing(NDT) Ultrasonic phased array Immersion C-Scan Detection system