Knowledge engineering in product and process design

A primary objective of knowledge engineering is to facilitate the application of knowledge arising from product design and the planning of the manufacturing process for new and modified products. Knowledge is an expensive and valuable commodity so the development of methods for its capture, representation and application are of considerable importance. The emphasis of the research described in this paper is on the re-use of knowledge for the creation of product variants. This implementation of ‘predictive design’ represents the very significant move from standard parts to standard knowledge constructs. Standard parts can be used in any application that requires a defined function where the shape and properties do not need to be altered. However, standard knowledge constructs can provide parts that can be used wherever the function is required. The Process Specification Language (PSL) provides one possible way of achieving this aim and is briefly outlined. A complementary method using ‘knowledge fragments’ for Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) applied to electronic products is also described.