Architectures for integration of information systems under conditions of dynamic reconfiguration of virtual enterprises

Tese Doutoramento Programa Doutoral em Industrial and Systems EngineeringThe aim of this thesis is to explore Architectures of information systems Integration under conditions of dynamic reconfiguration of Virtual Enterprises. The main challenge that we identify and which formed the basis of the research is that information technologies alone cannot support efficiently and effectively the human knowledge and their natural way of interacting. Already from Sausurre (1916) it could be argued that part of knowledge resides in person, and the attempt to try to model it is sufficient for it to be misrepresented. And this is the motto of all this work. Enhance the capabilities of emerging technologies, but in the sense that allow humanto- human interaction, having the information system merely a means to make this possible. Thus we argue that a communicational architecture of information systems integration (where Pragmatics mechanisms are enabled) in virtual enterprises in dynamic reconfiguration scenarios, are better able than the existing transactional architectures. We propose a communicational architecture able to achieve an effective integration of information systems, as well as designing its logical and functional model. We also define the necessary semiotic framework in order to a communicational integration architecture could be efficient and effective. We implemented two prototypes to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed architecture. The demonstration of the research hypothesis was demonstrated with the realization of two experimentations where the ontologies have been unable to resolve disagreements or absences of opinion inherent in people who collaborated. This was overcome with the implementation of mechanisms that allow the co-creation between members of the group that participated in the trial.O objectivo desta tese é explorar Arquitecturas de Integração de Sistemas de Informação em condições de Reconfiguração Dinâmica de Empresas Virtuais. O principal desafio que identificamos e que serviu de base da pesquisa é que as tecnologias de informação por si só não conseguem suportar de forma eficiente e efectiva o conhecimento humano e a sua forma natural de interagir. Já Sausurre (1916) defendia que parte do conhecimento residirá sempre na pessoa, e a tentativa de o tentar modelar é suficiente para que seja deturpado. E esse é o mote de todo este trabalho. Enaltecer as capacidades das tecnologias emergentes mas no sentido de elas permitirem a interacção homem-to-homem, sendo o sistema de informação meramente um meio para que tal seja possível. Argumentamos por isso que uma arquitectura comunicacional de integração de sistemas de informação, onde Pragmatics mechanisms are enabled, em empresas virtuais em cenários de reconfiguração dinâmica, são mais capazes que as actuais arquitecturas transacionais. Propomos para isso uma arquitectura comunicacional capaz de conseguir uma integração efectiva de sistemas de informação, assim como desenhamos o seu modelo lógico e funcional. Definimos ainda o quadro semiótico necessário para que uma arquitectura comunicacional de integração seja eficiente e effectiva. Implementamos dois protótipos capazes de demonstrar a aplicabilidade da arquitectura proposta. A demonstração da hipótese de pesquisa ficou demonstrada com a realização de uma experimentação onde as ontologias se mostraram incapazes de resolver discordâncias ou ausências de opinião inerentes às pessoas que colaboram. Tal foi superado com a aplicação de mecanismos que permitiram a co-criação entre os membros do grupo que realizou a experimentação

Forth Industrial Revolution (4 IR) : digital disruption of cyber-physical systems

Article focus of the disruptive character of technological innovations brought by Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), withits unprecedented scale and scope, and exponential speed of incoming innovations, described from the point view of 'unintended consequences' (cross cutting impact of disruptive technologies across many sectors and aspects of human life). With integration of technology innovations emerging in number of fields including advanced robotics, pervasive computing, artificial intelligence, nano-and bio-technologies, additive and smart manufacturing, Forth Industrial Revolution introduce new ways in which technology becomes embedded not only within the society, economy and culture, but also within human body and mind (described by integration of technologies, collectively referred to as cyber-physical systems). At the forefront of digital transformation, based on cyber physical systems, stands Industry 4.0, referring to recent technological advances, where internet and supporting technologies (embedded systems) are serving as framework to integrate physical objects, human actors, intelligent machines, production lines and processes across organizational boundaries to form new kind of intelligent, networked value chain, called smart factory. Article presents broader context of 'disruptive changes (innovations)' accompanying 4IR, that embrace both economical perspective of 'broaderrestructuring' of modern economy and society (described in second part of the article as transition from second to third and forth industrial revolution), and technological perspective of computer and informational science with advances in pervasive computing, algorithms and artificial intelligence (described in third part of article with different stages of web development : web 1.0, web 2.0, web 3.0, web 4.0). What's more important, article presents hardly ever described in literature, psychological and philosophical perspective, more or less subtle reconfiguration made under the influence of these technologies, determining physical (body), psychological (mind) and philosophical aspect of human existence (the very idea of what it means to be the human), fully depicted in the conclusion of the article. The core element (novelty) is the attempt to bring full understanding and acknowledgment of disruptive innovations', that "change not only of the what and the how things are done, but also the who we are", moving beyond economical or technological perspective, to embrace also psychological and philosophical one

e-Business challenges and directions: important themes from the first ICE-B workshop

A three-day asynchronous, interactive workshop was held at ICE-B’10 in Piraeus, Greece in July of 2010. This event captured conference themes for e-Business challenges and directions across four subject areas: a) e-Business applications and models, b) enterprise engineering, c) mobility, d) business collaboration and e-Services, and e) technology platforms. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methods were used to gather, organize and evaluate themes and their ratings. This paper summarizes the most important themes rated by participants: a) Since technology is becoming more economic and social in nature, more agile and context-based application develop methods are needed. b) Enterprise engineering approaches are needed to support the design of systems that can evolve with changing stakeholder needs. c) The digital native groundswell requires changes to business models, operations, and systems to support Prosumers. d) Intelligence and interoperability are needed to address Prosumer activity and their highly customized product purchases. e) Technology platforms must rapidly and correctly adapt, provide widespread offerings and scale appropriately, in the context of changing situational contexts

Supporting conceptualisation processes in collaborative networks: a case study on an R&D project

The development of new products or processes involves the creation, re-creation and integration of conceptual models from the related scientific and technical domains. Particularly, in the context of collaborative networks of organisations (CNO) (e.g. a multi-partner, international project) such developments can be seriously hindered by conceptual misunderstandings and misalignments, resulting from participants with different backgrounds or organisational cultures, for example. The research described in this article addresses this problem by proposing a method and the tools to support the collaborative development of shared conceptualisations in the context of a collaborative network of organisations. The theoretical model is based on a socio-semantic perspective, while the method is inspired by the conceptual integration theory from the cognitive semantics field. The modelling environment is built upon a semantic wiki platform. The majority of the article is devoted to developing an informal ontology in the context of a European R&D project, studied using action research. The case study results validated the logical structure of the method and showed the utility of the method

An overview of manufacturing knowledge sharing in the product development process

This paper provides an overview of reported research relevant to the management of manufacturing related knowledge and highlights the sharing of knowledge in the product development process. Previous research and concepts reported by international researchers and examples of the research projects carried out by the authors’ research teams will also be introduced. Publications reviewed are in the scope of information, communication and knowledge management technologies in product development and manufacturing. Some key concepts and issues in knowledge management are introduced first, as a foundation for the remainder of the review. The different approaches to knowledge management and knowledge sharing, and the different types of knowledge and key issues in the product development process are discussed. Then manufacturing knowledge and its application in the product development is reviewed. The focus is given to the discussion of the approaches to sharing manufacturing knowledge relating to the product development process and indicating the future challenges and research directions

Sustainability of systems interoperability in dynamic business networks

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de ComputadoresCollaborative networked environments emerged with the spread of the internet, contributing to overcome past communication barriers, and identifying interoperability as an essential property to support businesses development. When achieved seamlessly, efficiency is increased in the entire product life cycle support. However, due to the different sources of knowledge, models and semantics, enterprise organisations are experiencing difficulties exchanging critical information, even when they operate in the same business environments. To solve this issue, most of them try to attain interoperability by establishing peer-to-peer mappings with different business partners, or use neutral data and product standards as the core for information sharing, in optimized networks. In current industrial practice, the model mappings that regulate enterprise communications are only defined once, and most of them are hardcoded in the information systems. This solution has been effective and sufficient for static environments, where enterprise and product models are valid for decades. However, more and more enterprise systems are becoming dynamic, adapting and looking forward to meet further requirements; a trend that is causing new interoperability disturbances and efficiency reduction on existing partnerships. Enterprise Interoperability (EI) is a well established area of applied research, studying these problems, and proposing novel approaches and solutions. This PhD work contributes to that research considering enterprises as complex and adaptive systems, swayed to factors that are making interoperability difficult to sustain over time. The analysis of complexity as a neighbouring scientific domain, in which features of interoperability can be identified and evaluated as a benchmark for developing a new foundation of EI, is here proposed. This approach envisages at drawing concepts from complexity science to analyse dynamic enterprise networks and proposes a framework for sustaining systems interoperability, enabling different organisations to evolve at their own pace, answering the upcoming requirements but minimizing the negative impact these changes can have on their business environment

Building the Hyperconnected Society- Internet of Things Research and Innovation Value Chains, Ecosystems and Markets

This book aims to provide a broad overview of various topics of Internet of Things (IoT), ranging from research, innovation and development priorities to enabling technologies, nanoelectronics, cyber-physical systems, architecture, interoperability and industrial applications. All this is happening in a global context, building towards intelligent, interconnected decision making as an essential driver for new growth and co-competition across a wider set of markets. It is intended to be a standalone book in a series that covers the Internet of Things activities of the IERC – Internet of Things European Research Cluster from research to technological innovation, validation and deployment.The book builds on the ideas put forward by the European Research Cluster on the Internet of Things Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, and presents global views and state of the art results on the challenges facing the research, innovation, development and deployment of IoT in future years. The concept of IoT could disrupt consumer and industrial product markets generating new revenues and serving as a growth driver for semiconductor, networking equipment, and service provider end-markets globally. This will create new application and product end-markets, change the value chain of companies that creates the IoT technology and deploy it in various end sectors, while impacting the business models of semiconductor, software, device, communication and service provider stakeholders. The proliferation of intelligent devices at the edge of the network with the introduction of embedded software and app-driven hardware into manufactured devices, and the ability, through embedded software/hardware developments, to monetize those device functions and features by offering novel solutions, could generate completely new types of revenue streams. Intelligent and IoT devices leverage software, software licensing, entitlement management, and Internet connectivity in ways that address many of the societal challenges that we will face in the next decade