A semantic web service and simulation framework to intelligent distributed manufacturing

To cope with today's fluctuating markets, a virtual enterprise (VE) concept can be employed to achieve the cooperation among independently operating enterprises. The success of VE depends on reliable interoperation among trading partners. This paper describes a framework based on semantic web of manufacturing and simulation services to enable business and engineering collaborations between VE partners, particularly a design house and manufacturing suppliers. To this end, we first give an overview of distributed manufacturing in the web service framework, including detailed activity and information flow diagrams. Second, we propose an ontological definition of resource models and process-capability models using an ontology definition language. Third, we propose a method based on stochastic discrete-event simulation, whose model is automatically generated from the resource and process models, to evaluate highly nonlinear process plans. Finally, we present a prototype system to demonstrate an interoperable collaboration using semantic webs.