Samar Ammar-Khodja

Processing Knowledge to Support Knowledge-based Engineering Systems Specification

During design phase, engineering activities typically involve large groups of people from different domains and disciplines. These differences often generate important information flows that are difficult to manage. To face these difficulties, a knowledge engineering process is necessary to structure the information and its use This article, presents a deployment of a knowledge capitalization process based on the enrichment of Methodology and tools Oriented to Knowledge based engineering Applications methodology to support the integration of Process Planning knowledge in a CAD System. Our goal is to help different actors to work collaboratively by proposing one referential view of the domain, the context and the objectives assuming that it will help them in better decision-making.

An Overview on Knowledge Management

This first chapter has to be considered like a general entry in the problematic of Knowledge Life-Cycle Management. Some general issues are addressed. First a literature review is proposed that is supposed to highlight the domain and the corresponding concepts and aims through definitions. Knowledge Life-Cycle (KLC) is more especially considered and the strategic dimensions of KLC are described and commented. Then Knowledge Management is positioned with respect to information technology. A conclusion paragraph closes the paper.

Virtual engineering based on knowledge integration

The current paper presents major issues on actual approaches on virtual engineering, both about methods and tools but also regarding knowledge integration. The main actual strategic way of usage is based on knowledge formalisation, one of the strategic issues of next generation design environments. The evolution of the market has necessitated for new products the reduction of time-to-market, essentially because the product lifecycle is shorter, but also because it is very important to proceed more rapidly from an initial conception to a mass production object. As a result of newly evolved software environments, knowledge-based systems for integrated design and manufacturing is applied for complex systems obtained thanks to complex virtual extended enterprises. Owing to this evolution of virtual engineering technologies and their integration within extended companies, it has become possible today to validate parts representative of customised production within a very short time. The present paper provides an overview of the actual methods and tools in different components that affect speed and efficiency of product development, from the earliest stages of a products lifecycle. An example of knowledge formalisation is also provided, with concrete aspects of expertise reuse and traceability.

A Knowledge Engineering Method for New Product Development

Engineering activities involve large groups of people from different domains and disciplines. They often generate important information flows that are difficult to manage. To face these difficulties, a knowledge engineering process is necessary to structure the information and its use. This paper presents a deployment of a knowledge capitalization process based on the enrichment of MOKA methodology to support the integration of Process Planning knowledge in a CAD System. Our goal is to help different actors to work collaboratively by proposing one referential view of the domain, the context and the objectives assuming that it will help them in better decision-making.

Case Study, USIQUICK Project: Methods to Capitalise and Reuse Knowledge in Process Planning

Designers, process planners and manufacturers naturally consider different concepts for a same object. The stiffness of production means and the design specification requirements mark out process planners as responsible of the coherent integration of all constraints. First, this paper details an innovative solution of resource choice, applied for aircraft manufacturing parts. In a second part, key concepts are instanced for the considered industrial domain. Finally, a digital mock up validates the solution viability and demonstrates the possibility of an in-process knowledge capitalisation and use. Formalising the link between Design and Manufacturing allows enhancements of simultaneous Product/Process developments.

Knowledge Engineering Systems For Digital Enterprise Performance Improvement

This contribution is related to the proposition of some fundamental key elements related to knowledge engineering methods applied to digital enterprise performance improvement. To face the new over unformatted information world, engineers have re-thought their ways of collaborating, taking the best of the NTIC. Knowledge structuring has a key role for an efficient actor exchange and innovation creation. A proposition of some extension points from MOKA methodology illustrates these benefits. In addition, some additional methods concerning knowledge life-cycle are presented, mainly related to knowledge inscription traceability and a global knowledge engineering and evolution. Flexible architectures and tools have to be defined in order to integrate the dynamic knowledge evolution.

Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering: From Competition to Cooperation

The development of engineering systems is usually based upon the deployment of classical software engineering (SE) lifecycle (LC) models. In the case of Knowledge integration in Knowledge Based Systems, specific knowledge Management cycle, often called knowledge engineering (KE) lifecycle, is adopted.