Stephen Siang Guan Lee

Business process management (BPM) standards: a survey

Purpose – In the last two decades, a proliferation of business process management (BPM) modeling languages, standards and software systems has given rise to much confusion and obstacles to adoption. Since new BPM languages and notation terminologies were not well defined, duplicate features are common. This paper seeks to make sense of the myriad BPM standards, organising them in a classification framework, and to identify key industry trends.Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature review is conducted and relevant BPM notations, languages and standards are referenced against the proposed BPM Standards Classification Framework, which lists each standards distinct features, strengths and weaknesses.Findings – The paper is unaware of any classification of BPM languages. An attempt is made to classify BPM languages, standards and notations into four main groups: execution, interchange, graphical, and diagnosis standards. At the present time, there is a lack of established diagnosis standards. I...

Towards unified modelling of product life-cycles

This paper presents the potential of modelling a products life-cycle using the Unified Modelling Language (UML). The potential benefits and limitations are discussed. An example of a vacuum cleaner is cited in support of this approach. Model consistency across the various life cycle stages of the product is of major concern and an algorithm for constraint management is proposed and prospective research directions highlighted.

Issues and Approaches to Dynamic, Service-oriented Multi-enterprise Collaboration

Businesses today form dynamic business alliances to meet short-term business goals. However, in traditional business-to-business integration (B2Bi), the connections are typically long term and static. This paper discusses the potential of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web services in overcoming the issues and challenges of dynamic business partnerships. Some outstanding issues and challenges include the formulation of business processes for B2Bi at different levels of granularity and the dynamic composition, matching, selection and invocation of relevant services.

Control and Monitoring of Concurrent Design Tasks in a Dynamic Environment

In product development, it is common for concurrent design tasks to be coupled, and, because of complex information flows, to iterate several times before the entire product development process is completed, leading to delays in product launches and cost overruns. Furthermore, unexpected disturbances may destabilize the entire product development process. A generalized homogeneous and non-homogeneous state-space concept is proposed to model concurrent, coupled design tasks and to analyze and control the stability and convergence rate of the design tasks. The homogeneous analysis predicts the number of design iterations before the design tasks are completed and identifies those tasks that consume a disproportionate amount of resources and time to complete. The non-homogeneous analysis precisely monitors and controls the stability and the convergence rate of the concurrent design tasks through state feedback control. A case study of a camera design is discussed to illustrate how the convergence rate of the tasks can be improved and initial instability of tasks is managed. The proposed methodology can facilitate workload distribution and resource allocation in design task planning and management in the face of unexpected disturbances.

A computer-aided framework for the selection and sequencing of orientating devices for the vibratory bowl feeder

Abstract Correct part orientation has been the key to many successful automation applications, and often vibratory bowls were used. Traditionally, the design and tooling of the vibratory bowls are limited to a group of skilled experts. In this paper a feature-based framework for the automatic selection and sequencing of orientating devices is presented. A direct link between part representation and the selection and sequencing of modular orientating devices is provided by a spatial technique, in place of traditional CAD representation. Also described is the classification of a parts orientating features and classification of orientating devices. These two classifications are integrated into a knowledge-based system that will automatically generate sequences of modular orientating devices.

Multi-criteria decision techniques for context-aware B2B collaboration in supply chains

In todays rapidly changing environment, B2B collaboration technologies are crucial to support the growing complexity and diversity of supply chains. This paper proposes a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique, Deviation Measure, to support decision making in context-aware B2B collaboration. Empirical investigations to compare this proposed technique against other short-listed MCDM techniques were conducted. The completeness of ranking results, stability and robustness of the ranking sequence when new alternatives are introduced was investigated. The tests also examined the sensitivity of the sequence to changing weights in the criteria used. Results showed that the Deviation Measure technique is the best.

Multiple-objective optimization of machine cell layout using genetic algorithms

A prototype genetic algorithm-based system has been developed to group machines into manufacturing cells, subject to objective functions such as gross part (inter- and intra-cell) movement, cell load variation and machine set-up costs. The system is an improvement over two contemporary techniques because it can handle complex machine groupings with multiple objective functions. In order to assess chromosomes from different populations, a new crossover technique is proposed. The prototype system was evaluated using four machine groupings, namely Models 1, 2, 3 and 4 and three Approaches involving three different objective (fitness) functions. Models 1 and 2 have the twin objective functions of minimizing gross part movement and cell load variation. Models 3 and 4 are Models 1 and 2, respectively, with the minimizing machine set-up cost as the third objective function. In Approach 1, the chromosomes were drawn from two distinct populations, while Approaches 2 and 3 were defined by the authors to handle 3 or more objective functions. A chromosomal performance index, C obj , is defined to evaluate the fitness values of Approaches 2 and 3. It was found that Approach 3 was consistently able to produce sub-optimal solutions in all four models after weights are applied to different objective functions, whereas Approach 2 can perform as well as Approach 3 only if there is a sufficient number of iterations. On the other hand, Approach 2 requires a much shorter computational run time than Approach 3.

ECoDE – An Environmental Component Design Evaluation Tool

Abstract. Mass consumerism has brought about increasing consumption of non-renewable natural resources and manufactured goods, and is creating a waste disposal problem of unprecedented magnitude in the process. In the long run, sustainable manufacturing is only attainable given environmentally responsible product design. There are many tools for the analysis of the impact of manufactured products on the environment, but they do not offer a level of detail sufficient to identify environmentally offensive components in the product. This paper discusses a computer-based design evaluation tool, ECoDE, developed for assessing the environmental impact of components in a product. ECoDE makes use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process to compare each criterion, and rank them in an ascending order of relative significance. The types of materials used, their costs, manufacturing processes, reliability, and ease of access for disassembly are some of the key assessment criteria being considered. Finally, a multi-attribute (or criteria) rating technique is used to compute the scores against each of the criteria for both components and the overall product. The larger the score, the less severe the impact of the component or product on the environment. A discussion is then made on an evaluation test case conducted by ECoDE. Preliminary tests have found that ECoDE is able to calculate the least environmentally friendly component and highlight its likely causes.

Dynamic Collaborative Business Process Formulation via Ontologised Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) Planning

Increased trade and globalization has created an increasing need for the dynamic formulation and integration of cross-enterprise collaborative business processes (cBP’s). However, current systems and methodologies, being static in nature, are unable to dynamically formulate cBP’s based on business goals and selection criteria. Much of this stems from the current inability to bridge high level strategic business goals to low-level operational tasks, and the inability to dynamically decompose compound business process tasks into primitive operational tasks for direct Web service execution.In this paper, we demonstrate how the concepts from hierarchical task network (HTN) planning are feasible for dynamically creating cBP task sequences ideal for direct Web service execution. We also establish the rationale behind modeling business-to-business (B2B) collaboration tasks as hierarchical Web ontologies. To demonstrate the achievability of dynamic cBP formulation, we developed the Genesis methodology, which consists of (1) Business-OWL (BOWL) - a B2B hierarchical task Web ontology, and (2) the Genesis algorithm – an extension of the hierarchical task network (HTN) planning algorithm to handle business criteria and control flows commonly found in business processes.

Determining the probabilities of natural resting aspects of parts from their geometries

Proposes a computationally‐simple method, based on the centroid solid angle, for computing the probability distributions of the natural resting aspects of small parts, the fore‐knowledge of which can improve the design of vibratory feeders and orienting devices. The centroid solid angle (CSA) hypothesis postulates that the probability of a part coming to rest on a particular aspect is directly proportional to the solid angle subtended by the aspect with respect to the centroid (the centroid solid angle) and inversely proportional to the height of the centroid from the aspect in question. When benchmarked against Boothroyd’s energy barrier method, its results did not deviate from those of the energy barrier method by more than 0.04. Examines studies of a cylindrical prismatic part and a symmetrical T‐shaped prism. The drop tests used to obtain the authors’ empirical data were validated by experiments conducted on vibratory bowl feeders, subjected to different vibration frequencies. The tracks of one of the...