Process and knowledge management in a collaborative maintenance planning system for high value machine tools

Product manufacturers are extending their responsibilities in the whole life cycle by providing services to their customers. In recent years, product service system has become an important research topic to address the special requirements in the new service driven business model. High value machine tools in modern manufacturing factories are special products: they are regarded as ‘products’ from maintenance point of view, and they also manufacture other products. In the new business model, the quality and behavior of a machine tool not only affect the quality of the parts it manufactures, but also affect the profits of the machine tool’s manufacturer. However, in the research area of product service systems and related computerized maintenance systems, there is a lack of investigation into the special nature, problems and requirements of high value machine tool maintenance, which are very important in modern digitized manufacturing systems. Therefore, this research investigated the various relationships between different stakeholders in the machine tools’ lifecycle, focusing on knowledge management, communication and the decision-making processes. This research also explored the potential application of advanced content management systems, which are widely implemented in the financial, business and government organizations, in the manufacturing engineering domain which has been dominated by traditional engineering information systems. A prototype collaborative maintenance planning system is proposed, developed and evaluated using an example machine tool, which indicated that significant improvement could be achieved and the content management technology has a number of advantages over the traditional engineering information systems, such as computer aided engineering, product data and lifecycle management, and enterprise resource planning systems, in managing machine tool maintenance and service information including dynamic and unstructured knowledge

An Intelligent Knowledge Management System from a Semantic Perspective

Abstract. Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are important tools by which organizations can better use information and, more importantly, manage knowledge. Unlike other strategies, knowledge management (KM) is difficult to define because it encompasses a range of concepts, management tasks, technologies, and organizational practices, all of which come under the umbrella of the information management. Semantic approaches allow easier and more efficient training, maintenance, and support knowledge. Current ICT markets are dominated by relational databases and document-centric information technologies, procedural algorithmic programming paradigms, and stack architecture. A key driver of global economic expansion in the coming decade is the build-out of broadband telecommunications and the deployment of intelligent services bundling. This paper introduces the main characteristics of an Intelligent Knowledge Management System as a multiagent system used in a Learning Control Problem (IKMSLCP), from a semantic perspective. We describe an intelligent KM framework, allowing the observer (a human agent) to learn from experience. This framework makes the system dynamic (flexible and adaptable) so it evolves, guaranteeing high levels of stability when performing his domain problem P. To capture by the agent who learn the control knowledge for solving a task-allocation problem, the control expert system uses at any time, an internal fuzzy knowledge model of the (business) process based on the last knowledge model.knowledge management, fuzzy control, semantic technologies, computational intelligence

An Intelligent Knowledge Management System from a Semantic Perspective

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are important tools by which organizations can better use information and, more importantly, manage knowledge. Unlike other strategies, knowledge management (KM) is difficult to define because it encompasses a range of concepts, management tasks, technologies, and organizational practices, all of which come under the umbrella of the information management. Semantic approaches allow easier and more efficient training, maintenance, and support knowledge. Current ICT markets are dominated by relational databases and document-centric information technologies, procedural algorithmic programming paradigms, and stack architecture. A key driver of global economic expansion in the coming decade is the build-out of broadband telecommunications and the deployment of intelligent services bundling. This paper introduces the main characteristics of an Intelligent Knowledge Management System as a multiagent system used in a Learning Control Problem (IKMSLCP), from a semantic perspective. We describe an intelligent KM framework, allowing the observer (a human agent) to learn from experience. This framework makes the system dynamic (flexible and adaptable) so it evolves, guaranteeing high levels of stability when performing his domain problem P. To capture by the agent who learn the control knowledge for solving a task-allocation problem, the control expert system uses at any time, an internal fuzzy knowledge model of the (business) process based on the last knowledge model.knowledge management, fuzzy control, semantic technologies, computational intelligence

Robust Distance-Based Formation Control of Multiple Rigid Bodies with Orientation Alignment

This paper addresses the problem of distance- and orientation-based formation control of a class of second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems in 3D space, under static and undirected communication topologies. More specifically, we design a decentralized model-free control protocol in the sense that each agent uses only local information from its neighbors to calculate its own control signal, without incorporating any knowledge of the model nonlinearities and exogenous disturbances. Moreover, the transient and steady state response is solely determined by certain designer-specified performance functions and is fully decoupled by the agents' dynamic model, the control gain selection, the underlying graph topology as well as the initial conditions. Additionally, by introducing certain inter-agent distance constraints, we guarantee collision avoidance and connectivity maintenance between neighboring agents. Finally, simulation results verify the performance of the proposed controllers.Comment: IFAC Word Congress 201

Web-based Process Planning for Machine Tool Maintenance and Services

Providing maintenance and services for high value complex products would extend manufacturers’ responsibilities and benefits to the products' whole usable life, and provide the opportunities to re-use or re-manufacture some failed parts. Sophisticated Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine tools in modern manufacturing systems are special products in that they are also used to manufacture other products, and their operation performance directly affects the quality of the manufactured parts as well as the performance of the entire manufacturing system. To ensure CNC machine tools’ consistent performance, appropriate and efficient maintenance and services are essential and this is more challenging as technologies become more sophisticated and the environment is more dynamic. Previous research was mainly focused on maintenance strategy and maintenance scheduling. Very little effort was devoted to providing operational guidance for maintenance process execution, i.e., providing service suppliers with detailed information about resources needed for maintenance such as tooling, consumables, materials and spare parts, as well as service steps including disassembly and assembly of the serviced products. In this project, planning maintenance operation sequences, schedules and resource allocation are the three main tasks for generating final maintenance plans. This paper will present a Collaborative Maintenance Planning System (CoMPS) which will manage information and knowledge to support decision making in maintenance process planning

Overcoming Knowledge Gaps in Post-Merger Integration: A Case Study

Over 50% of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) fail, mainly because of integration problems. In such integrations, much of the experiential (learning-by-doing) knowledge critical for running the business becomes redundant or is lost. However, we know virtually nothing about what type of mechanisms best facilitate overcoming the gaps in experiential knowledge in these dynamic hybrid organizational situations. We study a case of integration of software-maintenance processes after a megamerger. In the first phase of the integration, the company combined best features of existing knowledge systems. However, high customer dissatisfaction and low key performance indicators followed. This led to the need to reframe the task into one of creating a new, better process. This led to satisfactory outcomes. Six key elements facilitated the transfer or creation of experiential knowledge: defining content of change, integrating information systems, leadership, joint collaboration, acquiring knowledge externally, and relocating personnel

Development of an intelligent interface for adding spatial objects to a knowledge-based geographic information system

Earth Scientists lack adequate tools for quantifying complex relationships between existing data layers and studying and modeling the dynamic interactions of these data layers. There is a need for an earth systems tool to manipulate multi-layered, heterogeneous data sets that are spatially indexed, such as sensor imagery and maps, easily and intelligently in a single system. The system can access and manipulate data from multiple sensor sources, maps, and from a learned object hierarchy using an advanced knowledge-based geographical information system. A prototype Knowledge-Based Geographic Information System (KBGIS) was recently constructed. Many of the system internals are well developed, but the system lacks an adequate user interface. A methodology is described for developing an intelligent user interface and extending KBGIS to interconnect with existing NASA systems, such as imagery from the Land Analysis System (LAS), atmospheric data in Common Data Format (CDF), and visualization of complex data with the National Space Science Data Center Graphics System. This would allow NASA to quickly explore the utility of such a system, given the ability to transfer data in and out of KBGIS easily. The use and maintenance of the object hierarchies as polymorphic data types brings, to data management, a while new set of problems and issues, few of which have been explored above the prototype level

An Intelligent Knowledge Management System from a Semantic Perspective

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are important tools by whichorganizations can better use information and, more importantly, manageknowledge. Unlike other strategies, knowledge management (KM) is difficult todefine because it encompasses a range of concepts, management tasks,technologies, and organizational practices, all of which come under the umbrella ofthe information management. Semantic approaches allow easier and more efficienttraining, maintenance, and support knowledge. Current ICT markets are dominatedby relational databases and document-centric information technologies, proceduralalgorithmic programming paradigms, and stack architecture. A key driver of globaleconomic expansion in the coming decade is the build-out of broadbandtelecommunications and the deployment of intelligent services bundling. This paperintroduces the main characteristics of an Intelligent Knowledge ManagementSystem as a multiagent system used in a Learning Control Problem (IKMSLCP),from a semantic perspective. We describe an intelligent KM framework, allowingthe observer (a human agent) to learn from experience. This framework makes thesystem dynamic (flexible and adaptable) so it evolves, guaranteeing high levels ofstability when performing his domain problem P. To capture by the agent who learnthe control knowledge for solving a task-allocation problem, the control expertsystem uses at any time, an internal fuzzy knowledge model of the (business)process based on the last knowledge model

A Knowledge Graph for Industry 4.0

One of the most crucial tasks for today’s knowledge workers is to get and retain a thorough overview on the latest state of the art. Especially in dynamic and evolving domains, the amount of relevant sources is constantly increasing, updating and overruling previous methods and approaches. For instance, the digital transformation of manufacturing systems, called Industry 4.0, currently faces an overwhelming amount of standardization efforts and reference initiatives, resulting in a sophisticated information environment. We propose a structured dataset in the form of a semantically annotated knowledge graph for Industry 4.0 related standards, norms and reference frameworks. The graph provides a Linked Data-conform collection of annotated, classified reference guidelines supporting newcomers and experts alike in understanding how to implement Industry 4.0 systems. We illustrate the suitability of the graph for various use cases, its already existing applications, present the maintenance process and evaluate its quality

An ontology-based content management system for a dynamic operating context: issues and prototype evaluation

Content management systems are very useful tools for organizing and sharing information resources and may considerably benefit from using ontology-based description schemes. Ontologies set a common ground for resource acquisition, enabling different users to share a common view of a knowledge domain, and may considerably enhance the search paradigms by exploiting semantic relationships between concepts. However, ontologies may evolve since they reflect knowledge schemes that are by nature dynamic. Moreover this evolution should be the result of a collaborative process of ontology maintenance. These and other issues are addressed in the present work and some practical solutions are proposed. Also, a very simple prototype implementation of an ontology-based content management system is described. Finally, the results of a short experimentation of this prototype within a small community are presented