A primitive ontology model for product lifecycle meta data in the closed-loop PLM

In the closed-loop product lifecycle management (PLM) which allows all lifecycle actors of the whole product lifecycle to access, manage, and control product related information with emerging technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless communication, it is prerequisite to share and exchange the product lifecycle data and information among lifecycle actors, smart products, and a PLM system. To this end, common semantics for product lifecycle meta data are required. In this regard, the ontology model for product lifecycle meta data can play a major role in supporting the sharing of product lifecycle data and information during whole product lifecycle. It can facilitate the communication among lifecycle actors, smart products, and a PLM system. For this purpose, in this study, we propose a primitive ontology model for product lifecycle meta data in the closed-loop PLM. For this, first, we clarify what the product lifecycle data is. We then design the structure of meta data that describes contents of product lifecycle data. Subsequently, we build up a primitive ontology for product lifecycle meta data in resource description framework (RDF) and have discussion about pros and cons of the proposed model.