Integrating Interdependencies in Semantic Manufacturing Process Description Models

The level of automation in production systems is increasing, with the use of advanced equipment to produce high-quality products. However, in today's dynamic situation, characterized by sustainability demands and shrinking product life cycles, manufacturing processes often require reconfiguration or even complete redesign. When undertaking the process reconfiguration or redesign of the production system, it is of utmost importance to explicitly describe the interdependencies among known parameters in order to anticipate the effects of parameter changes accurately. In this contribution, an approach for integrating process parameter interdependencies into a semantic model is presented. The semantic model uses various so-called Ontology Design Patterns. These patterns contain terminologies and logic of industrial standards. Models following this approach enable a support for process redesign by representing semantically enriched process knowledge. In addition, the model can be utilized to perform calculations and generate process output data based on specific process input data.