AGENT BASED MANUFACTURING CAPABILITY ASSESSMENT IN THE EXTENDED ENTERPRISE USING STEP AP224 AND XML

摘要

Data exchange in the extended enterprise is one of the most critical tasks in supporting collaborative decision-making. Companies often rely on geographically distributed suppliers for efficient product design and manufacture. Early design assessment can substantially reduce the cost of product development and production. This research proposes a new STEP AP224 EXPRESS based data model to facilitate the exchange of part and process data between distributed key agents in the early design process. The approach is illustrated using a prototype XML/CORBA environment to support the information exchange between collaborating design and manufacturing agents.