Open hypermedia for product support

As industrial systems become increasingly more complex, the maintenance and operating information increases both in volume and complexity. With the current pressures on manufacturing, the management of information resources has become a critical issue. In particular, ensuring that personnel can access current information quickly and effectively when undertaking a specific task. This paper discusses some of the issues involved in, and the benefits of using, open hypermedia to manage and deliver a diverse range of information. While the paper concentrates on the problems specifically associated with manufacturing organizations, the problems are generic across other business sectors, such as healthcare, defence and finance. The open hypermedia approach to information management and delivery allows a multimedia resource base to be used for a range of applications and it permits a user to have controlled access to the required information in an easily accessible and structured manner. Recent advancement in hypermedia also permits just-in-time support in the most appropriate format for all users. Our approach is illustrated by the discussion of a case study in which an open hypermedia system delivers maintenance and process information to factory-floor users to support the maintenance and operation of a very large manufacturing cell.