A STEP-based manufacturing information system to share flexible manufacturing resources data

The paper describes the design and implementation of a Manufacturing Information System as a solution to share and exchange manufacturing data. The Manufacturing Information System possesses relevant features for data sharing and exchanging, that are compliant to the standard ISO 10303, known as STEP¹. It is known that manufacturing planning and execution activities require data from machine-tools, robots, ASRSs², AGVs³ and, on the other hand, computer-based applications (CAM⁴, CAPP⁵ or PAC⁶) use proprietary formats to store flexible manufacturing resources data. The way the proprietary formats are built has lead to incompatibilities and interoperability problems among the applications. It is argued that by solving these problems a qualitative functional synergy will result during manufacturing planning and execution activities. The suggested solution is using a STEP-based information system, a server and a prototype client application. These three programs are implemented in Java classes to facilitate data sharing and exchanging of flexible manufacturing resources.This revised version was published in June 2005 with corrected page numbers.     

An information system for computer-integrated manufacturing systems

One of the main problems when implementing the computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) concept concerns information integration. In order to support information integration, an information system provided with suitable data models is required. In this paper an information system is presented, which fulfils the requirements for an appropriate information management in CIM. For this purpose, an EXPRESS-oriented information system has been built on top of a commercial relational DBMS. The conceptual model of the information is built in EXPRESS and then parsed and translated to the corresponding relational constructs. A data access interface has been implemented which allows EXPRESS-oriented data manipulation. The information system was developed inside ESPRIT project No. 2202 CIM-PLATO “CIM System Planning Toolbox” to integrate the information used by the tools developed for flexible manufacturing system planning.     

The PRODNET cooperative information management for industrial virtual enterprises

When designing an IT platform aimed at supporting industrial virtual enterprises (VEs), certain issues related to information management requirements become especially challenging, such as the physical distribution of data, the enterprise autonomy and privacy enforcement, access rights to shared information, and data visibility levels, among others. In the ESPRIT project PRODNET II, a federated database architecture was designed and implemented as the base support framework to effectively manage these issues associated with the sharing and exchange of information in the VE environment. In this paper, first the general information management requirements identified for the VE network in the PRODNET II project are described, and then the challenging design issues behind the development of the components of the federated information management system are presented.     

VirtuE: a formal model of virtual enterprises for information markets

A vital part of a modern economy is an information market. In this market, information products are being traded in countless ways. Information is bought, modified, integrated, incorporated into other products, and then sold again. Often, the manufacturing of an information product requires the collaboration of several participants. A virtual enterprise is a community of business entities that collaborate on the manufacturing of complex products. This collaboration is often ad hoc, for a specific product only, after which the virtual enterprise may dismantle. The virtual enterprise paradigm is particularly appealing for modeling collaborations for manufacturing information products, and in this paper we present a new model, called VirtuE, for modeling such activities. VirtuE has three principal components. First, it defines a distributed infrastructure with concepts such as members, products, inventories, and production plans. Second, it defines transactions among members, to enable collaborative production of complex products. Finally, it provides means for the instrumentation of enterprises, to measure their performance and to govern their behavior.     

Towards an architecture for virtual enterprises

An approach to the design of an architecture for industrial virtual enterprises (VE), with special emphasis on the identification of main functional requirements, is presented. First, a discussion of the various types of virtual enterprises is provided. Some classification scenarios and discussions of the modelling and reengineering tools and methodologies are described. Due to the importance of the information flows and management in the VE, one section is merely devoted to the analysis of the appropriateness of a federated information management approach. This work is based on and represents the ongoing activities in two European Union funded projects; the Esprit PRODNET II and the INCO-DC SCM+ projects.     

面向制造任务的云制造虚拟车间构造方法

针对云制造模式下快速选择和组织相关制造资源、保证制造任务执行的问题,提出一种面向制造任务的云制造虚拟车间构造方法。该方法将制造过程抽象为制造任务执行链,链中的节点对应制造设备云服务或检验云服务,链中的有向边对应物流云服务;并通过行业域、地域和类型域来组织管理云服务,以构造规模较小的候选云服务集,同时减少功能匹配、性能匹配、价格匹配和时间匹配的计算量,达到快速构建云制造虚拟车间的目的。算例分析表明,相比其他方法,该方法能够在更短的时间内完成云服务的选择,并保证所选云服务的服务质量（QoS）在相关域中是更好的。     

敏捷虚拟企业组织优化中伙伴选择的建模方法

随着信息技术的发展和全球化市场竞争环境的形成,制造业的经营观念发生了深刻的改变.敏捷制造（agile manufacturing,AM）作为提高企业群体竞争能力的全新制造业生产组织模式,被认为是21世纪制造业采用的主导模式.对AM的出现和发展以及相关技术进行综述后主要讨论了在敏捷虚拟企业（agile virtual enterprises,AVE）组建过程中,支持敏捷虚拟企业（AVE）盟主进行合作伙伴选择与实现的模糊层次分析法.并对原有的层次分析法的不足做了阐述.     

The application of information systems for the design and operation of flexible machining cells

The use of information systems in manufacturing applications has dramatically changed over the last few years. The design and implementation of somewhat dated relational databases has been replaced by the generation of information models, that can be simultaneously used for the development of information systems and satisfy their integration requirements. Over the last ten years the authors have been involved in a series of research programmes focusing on the design and operation of flexible machining cells. The use of information systems has been a central theme and the enabling technology to achieve a number of novel design concepts and operational strategies for such cells. The initial research was based on the utilization of relational databases to integrate a variety of modelling and design tools. However, the additional effort required to integrate such databases to manufacturing software tools, in the form of developing file translators, information gateways and interfac es, has made the authors adopt a new approach. With this approach the information requirements are represented in a neutral format within a data model, using a formal data specification language developed by the Standards for the Exchange of Product (STEP) committee. This paper describes these changes in the design and implementation of information systems in manufacturing applications, and provides an initial view of future research requirements.     

制造虚拟网络成员企业产量联合优化

分析了制造虚拟网络（MVN）的组织结构及其各成员企业之间的物流关系，建立了描述MVN供应网络物流的投入产出模型，考虑到短生命周期产品市场需求的不确定性，建立了以MVN联合利润最大为目标的各成员企业产量联合优化模型，并证明了目标函数的凹性，发现了目标函数的一阶条件方程决定了超曲面在决策变量张成的平面上的投影为直线，据此给出最优解的解法。     

A traceability information model for CNC manufacturing

This paper proposes an information model for tracing CNC manufacturing operations. The objective of the model is to assure that traceability data is comprehensive and available for every CNC machined product, independent of the relationship between the subcontractor and the contractor. The prominent feature of the model is a link between CNC report data for a product instance, the CAD design and the CAM data. This link enables users to browse the traceability data and understand the relationships between the manufacturing process, the CAD design and the CAM data. The link is independent of the systems used to build the CAD and CAM data, and allows the users to be sure the manufactured product contains the required characteristics. Then if a product instance fails, this linkage will make possible to analyze the trace data and identify any exceptions or unusual conditions in the manufacturing process.     

敏捷制造下候选企业搜索方法研究

针对敏捷制造寻找潜在合作企业问题， 提出了基于企业能力匹配和任务承接能力计算的候选企业搜索方法。该方法首先对加工任务和企业能力进行特征建模，并以加工任务特征为约束进行企业的匹配搜索，构成对应加工任务特征的匹配企业集；然后求解匹配企业集中各企业的任务承接能力，并选择任务承接能力较强的若干企业构成加工任务的候选企业集。应用表明了该方法的有效性。     

A PDES/STEP-based information model for computer-aided process planning

Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) constitutes one of the most essential elements in Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). Although many CAPP systems have been reported in literature during the last two decades, few of them are compatible enough to integrate easily with other systems in the CIM environment. One major reason is the lack of an effective method to represent the information required by CAPP, and to unify such information with the information of other systems in the CIM environment. Indeed, this problem has received relatively inadequate attention in the recent research of CAPP systems. In this paper, an information model for CAPP is developed by using the object-oriented modeling and the Product Data Exchange Step/STandard of Exchange Product data (PDES/STEP) techniques. The model consists of the part information model, the process plan information model, and the production resource information model. The EXPRESS language or the EXPRESS-G diagram is used to represent these models. Indeed, the proposed information model will greatly improve the CAPP system's capability of effective integration with other systems in the CIM environment, and, ultimately, to facilitate the implementation of the whole CIM strategy in manufacturing enterprises.     

Project-driven planning and scheduling support for virtual manufacturing

The paper addresses the issue of decision-making support for small and medium-size enterprises operating within a virtual project-driven enterprise environment. The problem considered here can be defined in terms of finding a feasible schedule that satisfies the constraints imposed by the work-order duration, the price, and the time-constrained resource availability. The problem belongs to the class of multi-mode case problems of project scheduling, where finding a feasible solution is NP-hard. A heuristic method for process planning and scheduling is proposed. The method is based on a critical path approach and the branch and bound search scheme. It has been implemented in a web-enabled interactive software package, and is illustrated using the example of a virtual construction enterprise. Received: February 2005 / Accepted: January 2006     

Information fusion for simulation based decision support in manufacturing

Robust and informed decisions are important for the efficient and effective operation of installed production facilities. The paper discusses Information fusion (IF) including a generic model for IF, and situations for decision-making. The paper also discusses current and future use of manufacturing resource simulation for design/configuration, operational planning and scheduling, and service and maintenance of manufacturing systems. Many of these applications use IF in some way, as is explained in more detail for simulation based service and maintenance. An extension of the generic model for IF is presented which incorporates modeling and simulation, and active databases as used in a simulation based service and maintenance system at the authors’ laboratory.     

离散制造企业RFID实施框架研究*

为推进离散制造企业RFID系统的成功实施,提出了面向离散制造企业的RFID实施方法论框架。从应用领域、应用层次、产品生命周期三个维度分析了离散制造企业的RFID应用需求。以信息技术采纳理论为基础,构建了包括RFID技术采纳决策和RFID系统实施两个阶段的RFID实施过程框架,并对各阶段的实施步骤和实施方法进行了阐述。利用上述RFID实施框架在重庆某整车生产厂进行实际应用,验证了可行性。     

A decision support system for cellular manufacturing system design

With the growth of competitive pressure in the global markets, there has been an increase in demand in industry for cellular manufacturing systems (CMSs) in order to improve productivity and process flexibility. The design of CMSs for industrial applications is a complex and knowledge intensive process as it involves the consideration of many factors including production data and process characteristics. This paper describes the development and implementation of a decision support system for the feasibility and conceptual design of CMSs. The system is based on the knowledge-based system approach, and is able to make recommendations of system feasibility, cell formation techniques and cell types. A case study is also presented to demonstrate the capability of the decision support system.     

物流外包信息支持系统的规划与设计

对供应链管理环境下物流外包双方的关系特点进行了研究，并详细分析了这些特点对信息支持系统的具体要求。基于多代理技术和互联网技术，对物流外包信息支持系统的体系结构进行了构建。以知识查询与操纵语言规范（KQML）作为代理间的通讯语言，使用基于消息/对话的形式实现物流外包各参与方间的信息通讯。最后，在对物流外包实施过程中的调度和协调规则进行简要分析后，详细阐述了信息支持系统中各代理相互激活的流程。     

消耗链模型在钢铁企业计算机集成制造系统中的应用研究

结合钢铁企业生产过程中投入产出的特点,提出了消耗链的概念,给出了消耗链模型的相关计算公式;建立了消耗链与计算机集成制造系统的集成关系;运用面向对象的建模思想,建立了消耗链模型和计算机集成制造系统的面向对象模型和信息模型;具体分析了消耗链模型在物料需求计划的应用.最后结合企业实例,说明该模型的有效性和实用性.     

制造业供应链产销协同计划冲突协商模型

面对市场竞争日益剧烈和客户需求多样化的趋势,制造业供应链的制造商和经销商努力实现产销协同计划。然而在产销协同计划中时常出现冲突,及时有效消解冲突,能提高整个供应链的协作效率,改善供应链上企业间的合作关系;反之,会降低供应链的运作效率,削弱供应链的竞争力。针对这类冲突问题,引入让步协商策略,在有限信息共享条件下,建立供应链产销协同计划冲突协商模型;设计具有历史提议回顾特点的协商流程;通过文化基因算法,产生反提议生成策略;通过算例验证文化基因算法及冲突协商模型的有效性。