Closed-loop PLM for intelligent products in the era of the Internet of things

Abstract With the advent of the information and related emerging technologies, such as RFID, small size sensors and sensor networks or, more generally, product embedded information devices (PEID), a new generation of products called smart or intelligent products is available in the market. Although various definitions of intelligent products have been proposed, we introduce a new definition of the notion of Intelligent Product inspired by what happens in nature with us as human beings and the way we develop intelligence and knowledge. We see an intelligent product as a product system which contains sensing, memory, data processing, reasoning and communication capabilities at four intelligence levels. This future generations of Intelligent Products will need new Product Data Technologies allowing the seamless interoperability of systems and exchange of not only Static but of Dynamic Product Data as well. Actual standards for PDT cover only lowest intelligence of today’s products. In this context, we try to shape the actual state and a possible future of the Product Data Technologies from a Closed-Loop Product Lifecycle Management (C-L PLM) perspective. Our approach is founded in recent findings of the FP6 IP 507100 project PROMISE and follow-up research work. Standards of the STEP family, covering the product lifecycle to a certain extend (PLCS) as well as MIMOSA and ISO 15926 are discussed together with more recent technologies for the management of ID and sensor data such as EPCglobal, OGC-SWE and relevant PROMISE propositions for standards. Finally, the first efforts towards ontology based semantic standards for product lifecycle management and associated knowledge management and sharing are presented and discussed.