Semantic Web Services in factory automation: Fundamental insights and research roadmap

One of the significant challenges for current and future manufacturing systems is that of providing rapid reconfigurability in order to evolve and adapt to mass customization. This challenge is aggravated if new types of processes and components are introduced, as existing components are expected to interact with the novel entities but have no previous knowledge on how to collaborate. This statement not only applies to innovative processes and devices, but is also due to the impossibility to incorporate knowledge in a single device about all types of available system components. This paper proposes the use of Semantic Web Services in order to overcome this challenge. The use of ontologies and explicit semantics enable performing logical reasoning to infer sufficient knowledge on the classification of processes that machines offer, and on how to execute and compose those processes to carry out manufacturing orchestration autonomously. A series of motivating utilization scenarios are illustrated, and a research roadmap is presented.