Development of a knowledge-based manufacturing modelling system based on IDEF0 for the metal-cutting industry

This paper look into a new area for knowledge-based system application, that of manufacturing modelling. The objective is to develop a knowledge-based manufacturing modelling system that can be used to build company-specific ''as-is'' and ''to-be'' IDEF0 models, and can therefore greatly reduce the turnaround time and effort involved in IDEF0 modelling of manufacturing systems, which can be time-consuming if done manually or even with the aid of a commercially available software package like DESIGN/IDEF(TM). This is especially so when the systems being modelled are large and complex. Besides, there is also the inconsistency problem associated with conventional IDEF0 modelling systems owing to the terms and terminologies in IDEF0 not being precisely defined, and hence being subject to individual interpretations. In this paper, a knowledge-based IDEF0 modelling system that can not only automate the tiresome and time-consuming process of manufacturing modelling but can also eliminate the inconsistency problem is proposed. The paper explains the knowledge-based approach to automated generation of IDEF0 models, and also identifies the kinds of domain knowledge that are required for the construction of the knowledge-based manufacturing modelling system.