Chapter 1: Ontologies and information models

Title: A Core Product Model for PLM with an illustrative XML implementation

Author(s): Sebti Foufou, Steven J. Fenves, Conrad Bock, Sudarsan Rachuri, Ram D. Sriram

Address: National Institute of Standards and Technology Mail Stop 8263, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, U.S.A | National Institute of Standards and Technology Mail Stop 8263, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, U.S.A | National Institute of Standards and Technology Mail Stop 8263, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, U.S.A | National Institute of Standards and Technology Mail Stop 8263, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, U.S.A | National Institute of Standards and Technology Mail Stop 8263, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, U.S.A

Reference: International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management 2005 pp. 21 - 32

Abstract/Summary: We propose a Core Product Model (CPM) for modelling product information suitable for supporting the information needs of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems over the lifecycle of the product from the earliest ideation to manufacturing, operation and disposal. We make this claim because in CPM a product is modelled as a triad of its function (what it is intended to do), its form (what is its shape and material) and its behaviour (how it implements its function). Early pre-design activities can thus deal with the function without having a geometric model of the form, and activities subsequent to design can extend the behaviour by the evaluation of multiple causal models (e.g., what is the product's market share). The components of the conceptual model of CPM are presented in terms of the product's function, form and behaviour, as well as the decompositions, associations and various kinds of relationships among these concepts. The model is represented in UML so as to provide interoperability with other models. An implementation model in XML and an example are presented to illustrate the principal elements of the proposed CPM model.

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