A semantic reconciliation view to support the interoperable information relationships in product design and manufacturing

Abstract

Global competitiveness has challenged manufacturing industry to rationalize different ways of bringing to the market new products in a short lead-time with competitive prices, high quality, and customization. Modern Product Development Process (PDP) has been requiring simultaneously collaboration of multiple groups, exchanging information from multiple perspectives within and across enterprise boundaries. However, semantic interoperability issues (misinterpretation and mistakes) in view of the information heterogeneity from multiple perspectives and their relationships. This research proposes a semantic reconciliation view to support the interoperable information relationships in product design and manufacturing. This view is part of the conceptual framework of an Interoperable Product Design and Manufacturing System (IPDMS). The semantic reconciliation method uses three approaches (Adjustment Context, Ontology Intersection, and Semantic Alignment) to provide support for the semantic information relationships across the product design and manufacturing. The method is applied in a rotational thin-wall plastic injected design and manufacturing and evaluated through the development of semantic rules responsible for the information mapping of sharing, conversion and translation. This semantic rules were modeled in Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) supported by Web Ontology Languages (OWL). Sequentially, the potential benefits and limitation of the method was discussed, contributing to the semantic information interoperability during the development of complex products.