Towards Seamless Product Structure Information Integration (Track 1, Session 6)
Author(s) :
Paavo Kotinurmi (Helsinki University of Technology, Finland)
Ilse Becker (Valmet Automotive Oy, Finland)
Abstract : We present a concept of solving current integrations problems using standards based integration. We point out shortcomings in the traditional integration technologies and show how semantic web technologies are able to overcome a current interoperability problem in a case from automotive industry. Our solution to the problem is still descriptive but the contribution of this paper is to show: � The role of standards such as RosettaNet or STEP in practical integration efforts. The major benefit of standards is extensibility of integration solution and flexibility to changes in the partners systems. The downside is that standards do not always support adequately the needed interactions and selecting a standard takes time and effort. � How semantic web technologies enable better validation of incoming messages and can automatically resolve some errors today. The traditionally used message validation technologies such as DTD or XML Schema lack the expressive power to solve some problems. � We further represent the differences between current B2B standards in the automotive supply chain and IT industry in what the standards cover related to message standardization and secure messaging of the messages. Automotive industry is more fragmented in defining the standards where as RosettaNet in IT industry is more industry-wide. There are also differences in the openness of the standards. There are already scientific efforts to showcase the use of semantic web technologies to extend current B2B integrations. The technologies and tools are still lacking for industrial use but are evolving.

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