The reuse of machining knowledge to improve designer awareness through the configuration of knowledge libraries in PLM

Abstract

The nature of competition induces the need to constantly improve and perform better. For global aerospace manufacturers, this is as timely an epithet as ever as market forces urge for more growth, better financial return and market position. The macroeconomic aspect is compounded by the growth of product complexity and the need for higher product quality, hence the drive to reduce waste places emphasis upon production costs and the need to improve product performance. This paper focuses upon a rapid development and deployment method that enables the capture and representation of machining knowledge so that it may be shared and reused by design engineers to accelerate the design-make process. The study and mapping of information and knowledge relationships are described and put forward as a lightweight ontology. From this, a set of knowledge document templates were created to facilitate the capture, structuring and sharing of machining knowledge within a collaborative multidisciplinary aerospace engineering environment. An experimental pilot system has been developed to test and demonstrate that knowledge document templates can accelerate the sharing of machining knowledge within an industrial product lifecycle management environment. The results are discussed to provide a case for further development and application within the product domain.

Keywords:

• knowledge engineering
• knowledge reuse
• knowledge retrieval
• structured knowledge documents
• product lifecycle management

Acknowledgements

This work was developed under the research project entitled ‘Manufacturing Knowledge Maintenance and Re-use’. This was funded under EPSRC EP/H00131X/1 and actively supported by Rolls Royce plc.