Title: Constructing manufacturing-environmental model in Bayesian belief networks for assembly design decision support through fuzzy cognitive maps

Authors: Wooi Ping Cheah, Kyoung-Yun Kim, Hyung-Jeong Yang, Man-Sun Kim, Jeong-Sik Kim

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, South Korea. ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, South Korea. ' Department of Computer Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, South Korea. ' Department of Computer Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, South Korea

Abstract: This paper deals with the introduction of the Bayesian belief network (BBN) for the representation and reasoning about manufacturing environmental knowledge which captures the interactions between manufacturing-environmental factors and assembly design decision (ADD) criteria. BBN is used because it has a sound mathematical foundation, expressive representation scheme, powerful reasoning capability, efficient evidence propagation mechanism and proven track record in industry-scale applications. Unfortunately, the construction of conditional probability tables (CPTs) is both tedious and unnatural. Hence, fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is introduced for knowledge acquisition because it is simple and user friendly. We also propose a method for the conversion of FCM into BBN.

Keywords: manufacturing; assembly design; decision support; fuzzy cognitive maps; FCMs; Bayesian belief networks; BBNs; environmental knowledge; knowledge acquisition.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIDS.2009.023035

International Journal of Intelligent Information and Database Systems, 2009 Vol.3 No.1, pp.3 - 27

Published online: 08 Feb 2009 *

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