Smart assembly - Data and model driven

Abstract

The world is changing distinctly and manufacturing is facing significant challenges. Current manufacturing paradigms need to develop towards better agility to meet current market demand. The relevant research has been launched and the resulting new approaches, like smart manufacturing, digital manufacturing and the cognitive factory, are introduced. However, today's real challenge to manufacturing enterprises is building an infrastructure that will enable the sharing of knowledge and information in a manufacturing environment, regardless of time and place. This article reviews some of the latest approaches and research initiatives and suggests the use of semantic technologies in information integration. Use of semantics enables information and knowledge to be represented in a form understandable to both humans and machines, and offers the ability to adapt more flexibly to change. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.