Resource-free and resource-dependent aspects of process modelling: A rule-based conceptual approach

The Esprit project 8224-RUMS a RUle-based Manufacturing Modelling System is aimed at providing small-medium enterprises with advanced software tools supporting product design, process design and long-, medium- and short-term production planning. Process modelling constitutes a critical point of the project, since it links product structure to planning functions. A new process representation has been introduced that overcomes limitations of current techniques, e.g. inability to model products as belonging to generalized families, or request of burden amounts of data to manage. The proposed approach is based on a neat separation between abstract resource-free definitions of manufacturing operations and actual resourcedependent specifications of set-up and operational conditions and times. Following this solution, most of the aspects of process modelling can be expressed as rules. Rules provide a concise representation that avoids redundancies and enables computer-based knowledge control and processing.