While design of production systems based on digital models brings benefits, the communication of models comes with challenges since models typically reside in a heterogeneous IT environment using different syntax and semantics. Coping with heterogeneity requires a smart integration strategy. One main paradigm to integrate data and IT systems is to deploy information standards. In particular, ISO 10303 STEP has been endorsed as a suitable standard to exchange a wide variety of product manufacturing data. One the other hand, service-oriented tool integration solutions are progressively adopted for the integration of data and IT-tools, especially with the emergence of Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration whose focus is on the linking of data from heterogeneous software tools. In practice, there should be a combination of these approaches to facilitate the integration process. Hence, the aim of this paper is to investigate the applications of the approaches and the principles behind them and try to find criteria for where to use which approach. In addition, we explore the synergy between them and consequently suggest an approach based on combination of them. In addition, a systematic approach is suggested to identify required level of integrations and their corresponding approaches exemplified in a typical IT system architecture in Production Engineering.

In the domain of developing production systems, the design of a good factory is typically distributed over many disciplines and organizations to cover all involved technologies and levels of detail (process, logistics, machinery etc.). Modelling and simulation used to support the design process within each of the disciplines typically represent different contexts and perspectives. To cross the discipline borders and share experiences, to encourage innovation and make holistic decisions, one challenge is to interrelate various digital models and to reach a mutual system understanding between stakeholders. This paper presents a study based on principles from Social Science, Production Engineering, Computer Science and Information Design to address cross-disciplinary collaboration. Principles concerning visual communication and theories in regard to tangible boundary objects are used to clarify how to describe production system interdependencies in a digital factory context. Work in process of implementing a digital factory framework based on the principles is described, with a use case demonstrating the development of a digital factory for a new type of automotive vehicle.

Internet of things (IoT) in manufacturing can be defined as a future where every day physical objects in the shop floor, people and systems (things) are connected by the Internet to build services critical to the manufacturing. Smart factory is a way towards a factory-of-things, which is very much aligned with IoT. IoT not only deals with smart connections between physical objects but also with the interaction with different IT tools used within the digital factory. Data and information come from heterogeneous IT systems and from different domains, viewpoints, levels of granularity and life cycle phases causing potential inconsistencies in the data sharing, preventing interoperability. Hence, our aim is to investigate approaches and principles when integrating the digital factory, IT tools and IoT in manufacturing in a heterogeneous IT environment to ensure data consistency. In particular this paper suggests an approach to identify what, when and how information should be integrated. Secondly it suggests integration between IoT and PLM platforms using semantic web technologies and Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) standard on tool interoperability.

Increasingly complex products and business models require support of increasingly complex information. In this paper we propose a new approach BIC, Business Information Context, to define contexts for accessing, viewing, and managing this complex information. BIC structures information based on key domains: business drivers, business processes, information entities, product characteristics, and information systems. We compare BIC with other and simpler approaches, like views and contexts used in the ISO 10303 (STEP) standards, design methodologies, and PLM systems. We illustrate the definition and use of BIC with an implementation of an application forprotecting a company’s intellectual property.

Design and verification of factory layout and material flow is a multidisciplinary, knowledge-intensive task which requires a collaborative framework where all specialists involved can communicate, interact, manage and visualize different models. However, the communication of digital models comes with challenges. First of all the information resides in various systems and applications, in different formats and with various levels of detail and viewpoints. Moreover, models share common properties and it is common that these properties influence each other. Hence modification of one model should be propagated to other models, which need to be coordinated.To deal with the data exchange and integration problem, information standards such as ISO 10303 have been developed. ISO 10303 (STEP) has shown a strong capability to represent rich information models in a wide variety of industrial domains for the purpose of exchanging data. However, STEP is intrinsically complex and sometimes adds unnecessary level of detail to information to be shared. On the other hand, the Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) initiative provides a minimalistic set of standardized information models, focusing on the most common concepts within a particular domain. Assuming a loosely-coupled distributed architecture of tools and services, OSLC adopts the Linked Data approach to ensure data consistency across the data resources.How can we combine STEP’s rich information model for data exchange, with OSLC’s minimalistic approach for data integration?The aim of this work is to show the applicability of using these two complementary paradigms – and their corresponding standards - to support interoperability and data integration in a heterogeneous IT environment for material flow analysis and layout design. To this end, an industrial case study was implemented through the information standard STEP and the OSLC specifications to verify the suggested approach.

The complexity of product realization has increased significantly due to the requirements on ecological and social as well as economical sustainability. This has led to an increased demand on innovations concerning new materials and product- and process technologies, as well as on new business models for a better utilization of products and materials.

Most innovations occur through a learning process where various actors, individuals as well as organizations, take part. Breakthroughs do not necessarily occur within the research or development departments, they are equally likely to occur during production or utilization. The challenge thus lies in providing platforms and tools for cross-divisional, collaborative innovation and for sharing Best Practices.

This paper describes an initiative at KTH Royal Institute of Technology for supporting the integration of various company disciplines and external expertise through a collaborative framework where industry and academy can collaborate, supported by modeling, simulation and visualization during the innovation process. The approach combines theories and methods concerning innovation and digital factories and emphasizes aspects concerning learning, communication and collaboration.

Current Product Lifecycle Management systems (PLM) have concentrated on product design, not on manufacturing engineering with its development of e.g. Material flows and layouts. This paper proposes an approach to describe how to represent the main required manufacturing process data using ontologies together with generic data standards. This approach makes it possible to develop translations between different software, and also providing users with the meaning of different concepts. It contributes to an efficient management of manufacturing information, with a focus on the material flow information as used in Discrete Event Simulation – DES.

A fundamental requirement for executing Discrete Event Simulation (DES) is incorporating a data structure that represents process, product and resource information, and their interrelations. Further, the capability of integrating this data structure with other types of information such as geometry (e.g. for sizes of products or distances of transports) is of vital interest. Manufacturing information is normally not integrated but is heterogeneous and stored in different Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) applications in the factory plant. Therefore this paper aims to describe how to represent the main required operational data of a manufacturing system for DES by using ISO 10303 Application Protocol 214 (STEP AP214) in order to fulfill the mentioned characteristics of data and information. Stochastic properties of manufacturing resources and corresponding processes such as measured cycle time and disturbances information are represented using application module 1274 (ISO 10303-1274) that defines a particular schema for probability distribution representation. A test implementation of the mentioned data including a graphical user interface has been carried out to show the feasibility of the research approach.

Changing the design of a factory in practice involves the change of a number of parallel and interdependent systems such as the machining resources and robot cells, the supply systems for electricity, water, air, heat and cooling, pneumatics and hydraulics, the systems for chip and waste handling, process fluid, communication networks, sprinkler systems, as well as the building construction. Thus the coordination of information and models, as well as of the design work activities, is of utmost importance to achieve a fast and flexible development process. This paper presents the results from a research project focusing on computer aided work processes and the communication of models between various stake holders in layout design. The primary objective was to provide methods for a coordinated factory development process with a facilitated information exchange and reuse of knowledge and models. Results concerning required layout and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) functionalities, as well as modelling and communication principles, tested in an industrial case, are presented.