Chapter 7: Knowledge engineering

Title: A feature-based approach to integrate product and process architectures

Author(s): Jörg Feldhusen, Frederik Bungert, Nils Macke, Manuel Löwer

Address: Chair and Institute for Engineering Design IKT, RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstrabe 54B, 52074 Aachen, Germany | Chair and Institute for Engineering Design IKT, RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstrabe 54B, 52074 Aachen, Germany | Chair and Institute for Engineering Design IKT, RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstrabe 54B, 52074 Aachen, Germany | Chair and Institute for Engineering Design IKT, RWTH Aachen University, Steinbachstrabe 54B, 52074 Aachen, Germany

Reference: International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management 2007 pp. 457 - 466

Abstract/Summary: This contribution describes a feature-based reference model which integrates product and process architectures. A reference model is an abstract, commonly valid model from which an application model describing a certain scenario can be derived. To integrate the product architecture, which comprises the product and the functional structure, and a process architecture, which comprises the process and the organisational structure, a hierarchical feature structure will be applied. This approach aims at making as much product related knowledge reusable as possible. In general, only the data connected to the product structure can be reused as other knowledge is only of implicit character. This knowledge can be turned into explicit using the mentioned feature-based approach. It will be embedded into a reference model to ensure that only common knowledge is incorporated. Product specific knowledge which cannot be reused will be discarded.

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