Manufacturing system data management and development towards a STEP compliant reference model for manufacturing

Abstract: Collaborative engineering assumes a common understanding of the domain. To make joint decisions the engineers must have a common language to start from. Standards such as STEP may be used to communicate engineering data but to speak about information integration and interoperability there must be ways to expose and share concepts as well.By defining the concepts in a reference data library it is possible to extend the generic information models with a more precise definition of the content being exchanged. However, since concepts are depending on the context (the business) they have to be identified and defined. Thus, to reach this level of integration we must take a broader approach to information modelling incorporating product realization concepts into our modelling effort.This thesis presents a new reference model for manufacturing applications. It shows how the business may be modelled to identify the product realization concepts and how to foster a shared understanding of the information being exchanged using available technology. The reference model has been used and verified when developing the PIL application; a kind of engineering process support system for machine procurement, but may also be used in a wider sense when developing the next generation of model driven solutions.