Semantic Modeling and Interoperability in Product and Process Engineering: A Technology for Engineering Informatics

In the past decade, feature-based design and manufacturing has gained some momentum in various engineering domains to represent and reuse semantic patterns with effective applicability. However, the actual scope of feature application is still very limited. Semantic Modeling and Interoperability in Product and Process Engineering provides a systematic solution for the challenging engineering informatics field aiming at the enhancement of sustainable knowledge representation, implementation and reuse in an open and yet practically manageable scale.

This semantic modeling technology supports uniform, multi-facet and multi-level collaborative system engineering with heterogeneous computer-aided tools, such as CADCAM, CAE, and ERP.  This presented unified feature model can be applied to product and process representation, development, implementation and management. Practical case studies and test samples are provided to illustrate applications which can be implemented by the readers in real-world scenarios.

By expanding on well-known feature-based design and manufacturing approach, Semantic Modeling and Interoperability in Product and Process Engineering provides a valuable reference for researchers, practitioners and students from both academia and engineering field.

Dr. Yongsheng Ma is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta (U of A), Canada. He joined U of A in 2007. Before that, Dr. Ma had been with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, since 2000. From 1996 to 2000, Dr. Ma was with the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) starting as a senior research fellow and group manager. He was a lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic from 1993 to 1996.

 Dr. Ma received his B. Eng. from TsingHua University, China (1986), and both MSc and PhD degrees from Manchester University, UK (1990 and 1994).

Dr. Ma’s main research areas include CADCAM, engineering informatics, feature-based product and process modelling, and product lifecycle management (PLM). Dr. Ma’s expertise is in feature-based intelligent product and engineering process informatics. Dr. Ma had led a team of researchers at SIMTech (1996-2000), and developed a plastic mould design software tool named QuickMould^TM, which had been commercialized and known as Moldwizard^TM under Siemens NX product series.

Dr. Ma proposed a fundamental framework of associative feature theory in 2003. This pioneering work suggests an advanced feature modeling method that supports engineering feature objects consistently across the iterative engineering phases of a product and process system from cradle to grave. It was commented by a recent paper in the Journal of CAD that the associative feature concept “bridges the gap between the interfacing of knowledge-oriented tools and CAD applications”. Further, together with his students, Dr. Ma proposed unified feature scheme which was intended to enable computer systems to support geometrical and non-geometrical feature associations, which represents facts in the higher level knowledge model.

Dr. Ma was awarded SBFSS scholarship from China government in 1987. In 2012, he won Alberta Science and TechnologyLeadership award for outstanding achievement in applied technology and innovation.