https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6470-8073
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Abstract
Ontologies provide an opportunity to tackle the interoperability challenge in digital manufacturing. Although ontologies have been used in numerous industrial projects, the problem of semantic interoperability in the industry is still unresolved. One reason for the lack of success of ontologies in the industry is that most industrial ontologies have been developed based on local needs without taking wider applications into account or attempting to learn from earlier ontology initiatives or reuse the existing ontologies. In this position paper, we argue that for widespread adoption and implementation of ontologies, more systematic and coordinated efforts are needed with the participation of industry, academia, and government at an international level. We also hypothesise that a coordinated and systematic ontology development effort will incrementally lead to the creation of an ecosystem of interoperable software applications that support consistent data access and reasoning across the product life cycle. We discuss why efforts such as Industrial Ontology Foundry (IOF) can promote a methodological ontology development process by introducing modular, and reusable ontologies. We draw examples from two domain areas, namely supply chain management and production planning and scheduling, to demonstrate how industrial notions can be analysed ontologically according to IOF procedures and methods.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
Notes
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Farhad Ameri
Farhad Ameri is a Professor of Manufacturing Engineering and Technology at Texas State University and the Director of the Engineering Informatics (INFONEER) Research Group. His research interests include Knowledge-based Engineering (KBE) in design and manufacturing applications, Ontology Engineering, and Design Theory and Methodology. He is an alumnus of the University of Michigan’s Integrative Systems + Design Division and received his doctorate degree in Manufacturing Engineering in 2006. His research is sponsored by various public and private agencies including NSF (National Science Foundation), NIST (National Instituite of Standards and Technology) and Digital Manufacturing Instituite. He served as a visiting professor at EPFL and the University of Texas at Austin. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering. He is a member of the Industrial Ontology Foundry (IOF), ASME CIE (Computers and Information in Engineering), and IFIP WG 5.7 Advances in Production Management Systems (APMS) and sereved as the general chair of the APMS Conference in Austin, Texas in 2019.
Dusan Sormaz
Dušan N. Šormaz is a Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Ohio University, Athens, USA. His principal research interests are in Simulation, Additive Manufacturing, Process Planning, Semantic Data Integration, and application of knowledge-based systems in manufacturing. He has worked on research projects sponsored by NIST, Delphi Automotive, GE, MVESC, and major oil companies in the areas of manufacturing process planning, cost estimation, bus scheduling, and corrosion modelling and prediction software. He has published over 40 refereed papers in scholarly journals and more than 130 conference papers. He has also delivered 12 keynotes, workshops and tutorials and around 50 contributed presentations at international research events. He has organised several international conferences (GT/CM Symposium 2003, ASME APSP Symposium 2006, IISE Manufacturing and Design Track 2016 and 2017, IISE Modelling and Simulation Track 2019). He was the General Chair of the 28th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM2018 in Columbus and the Plenary Speaker Chair of International Conference on Production Research, ICPR25 in Chicago 2019. He is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management (IJIEM), he edited a special issue of the International Journal of Production Research, and a special issue of Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing (RCIM) Journal. He serves as regular reviewer for several research journals in his area of expertise. He has received the IISE Lean Division’s Lean Teaching Award in 2018. He was finalist for Presidential Teacher Award at Ohio University in 2017, and received multiple annual Marvin E. and Ann D. White Teaching Award and Marvin E. and Ann D. White Research Awards at Ohio University. He was a holder of Fulbright scholarship for graduate studies in the USA in the early 1990s. He received his Ph.D. degree in industrial and systems engineering and M.Sc. in computer science from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, and M.Sc. in industrial engineering and BS. in mechanical engineering from the University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.
Foivos Psarommatis
Foivos Psarommatis is a passionate and active researcher in the area of quality improvement in manufacturing systems at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne EPFL. More specifically is a pioneer in the area of Zero-Defect Manufacturing (ZDM), as is the first who modernised and set the foundation of modern ZDM. His scientific interests, motivation and vision are around Industry 4.0 and on how ZDM can be applied efficiently to production systems, focusing on the decision making, scheduling and design of a system or a product, with an ultimate goal to achieve true sustainable manufacturing. He is actively involved in EU research programs in the area of Factories of the Future and Enabling ICT for Sustainable Manufacturing. He holds a BSc and an MSc in Mechanical engineering with specialisation on design and manufacturing engineering from the University of Patras. He has also an M.Sc. from National University of Athens in Automation systems with specialisation on manufacturing and production systems. He did his Ph.D. around the topic of Zero-Defect Manufacturing École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne EPFL. Foivos is an active member on a CEN/CENELEC working group responsible for standardising ZDM and a member of IOF (Industrial Ontologies Foundry) where he is the chair of the ZDM working group.
Dimitris Kiritsis
Dimitris Kiritsis is a Faculty Member at the Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the School of Engineering of EPFL, Switzerland, where he is leading a research group on ICT for Sustainable Manufacturing. His research interests are Closed Loop Life cycle Management, Sustainable Manufacturing IIoT, Semantic Technologies, Industrial Ontologies and Data Analytics for Engineering Applications. Dimitris serves as Director of the doctoral Program of EPFL on Robotics, Control and Intelligent Systems (EDRS). He served as Guest Professor at the IMS Center of the University of Cincinnati, and Invited Professor at the University of Technology of Compiègne, the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbéliard and at ParisTech ENSAM Paris. He is actively involved in EU research programs in the area of Factories of the Future and Enabling ICT for Sustainable Manufacturing. He has more than 220 publications. From September 2013 to September 2019 Dimitris was the Chair of IFIP WG5.7 – Advanced Production Management Systems. From 2013 to 2017 he was member of the Advisory Group of the European Council on Leadership on Enabling Industrial Technologies – AG LEIT-NMBP. He is also a founding fellow member of the International Society for Engineering Asset Management (ISEAM and among the initiators and co-founders of the IOF (Industrial Ontologies Foundry). Since 2019 he is a member of the WEF Global Future Council of Advanced Manufacturing and Production