Capability-based ontological resource model and rules for describing and assigning resources in sheet metal manufacturing

In order to ensure full utilization of modern multi-functional manufacturing technologies, it is important that up-to-date information of the resource capabilities is always available for the design and planning activities. This paper presents an ontological approach for representing resources and their capabilities, and a framework in which the resource capabilities are matched with product requirements. The paper integrates two separate works of different universities, TUT and LUT. In order to show a practical example of the usage of the capability model and capability matching developed by TUT, the approach is applied to a case study from sheet metal manufacturing. The extensive research of LUT on the interconnectedness of turret punch press machines and tools with product properties is used as an input for the formulation of the capability description of turret punch press and for formulating the rules for the detailed capability matching.