An ontology-based approach to support decision-making for the design of ETO (Engineer-To-Order) products

Abstract

Most of the facility projects have Engineer-To-Order (ETO) products. One of the major problems associated with ETO products is their long lead-time. Previous studies show that the long lead-time has more than half of its causes associated directly or indirectly with the design phase, in which many project participants are involved. This paper explores approaches to better support the ETO product design process by improving information sharing among project participants and collaborating information systems. This paper proposes to use ontology as a technical solution to integrate heterogeneous systems. Subsequently, an ontological framework of electrical products for supporting decision-making is developed. The ontology supports the generation, analysis, sharing and reuse of domain knowledge as required by ETO business processes, thus providing information to support many information intensive business processes such as the evaluation of design alternatives. This paper also presents a case study, i.e., the selection of transformers, to demonstrate the use of the ontology. In addition, limitations of the study have also been discussed.