Guest editorial - special issue on applications in industry of product and process modelling using standards

摘要

Product and process modelling today plays a key role within the industrial community. In the advent of concurrent and distributed activities, electronic data exchange and the internet, software applications must be ready to communicate and exchange data and knowledge automatically. Standards for data representation and exchange form the basis from which these broad objectives can be achieved and from which reliable integrated environments can be attained. In this context, suitable standards and de facto standards have a primary role, which we can enumerate the ISO TC184/SC4 standards, like ISO 10303-STEP, ISO 13584-Plib and ISO 15531-Mandate, and XML. Because standards are developed under an application context, most are not self-sufficient covering the global requirements. Harmonisation, integration and references between them are important issues that must be addressed to aid the achievement of the objectives. The research community eagerly awaits focused attention on these matters.