Luca Fumagalli
email: luca1.fumagalli@polimi.it

Simone Pala
email: simone.pala@polimi.it

Marco Garetti
email: marco.garetti@polimi.it

Elisa Negri
email: elisa.negri@polimi.it

Ontology-Based Modeling of Manufacturing and Logistics Systems for a New MES Architecture

Keywords: Manufacturing Systems Ontology, Factory and process automation, Service Oriented Architecture, Manufacturing Execution System

The paper illustrates the role of modeling of shop floor to support an innovative solution for the control architecture of automated manufacturing systems. One of the main characteristics of manufacturing systems domain is, in fact, the variety of configurations that manufacturing systems can assume and this may prevent the possibility to easily adapt and reconfigure the control solution for advanced manufacturing systems. To this end, the paper presents a proposal on how to cope with this issue, coming from a collaborative project, where important European universities and companies are involved. The proposal is based on a structured modeling (i.e. ontology) of manufacturing systems. The paper proposes a practical example of the modeling, envisioning how this can be then exploited within the proposed architecture that defines a new concept of the Manufacturing Execution System of manufacturing equipment.

Introduction

Efforts of many researchers toward the generalization of methods for the design and management of manufacturing systems have been often limited by the variety of the context of their applications. On the other hand, many authors have addressed this issue in the past; nevertheless it has become available for better handling of modeling problems only in the more recent years thanks to the development of new information technology tools and languages. For instance, the Manufacturing Execution Systems Modeling Language (MES-ML) integrating all necessary views important for Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and pointing out their interdependencies has been developed by Witsch and Vogel-Heuser [START_REF] Witsch | Towards a formal specification framework for manufacturing execution systems[END_REF].

This paper presents a part of a research developed in the scope of an ongoing European funded project on this topic, named eScop (Embedded systems Servicebased Control for Open manufacturing and Process automation). The central concept of eScop is to combine the power of embedded systems with an ontology-driven service-based architecture for realizing a fully open automated manufacturing environment. The innovation of the solution proposed by eScop is the fact that it merges the power of ontology knowledge and SOA control approaches; this allows the control to be automatically configured by the ontology to a specific manufacturing system. Thus, one result is the substitution of the traditional control model based on hierarchical hardware architecture, with a single level population of embedded systems plus a free series of pure software control levels. The deployment of such approach to manufacturing has been named Open Knowledge-Driven Manufacturing Execution System (OKD-MES). The kernel of the eScop platform will be presented in the remainder of this paper, showing the novelty that it introduces.

This document is structured in the following way: section 2 details the benefits for the overall approach proposed by eScop project introducing the new vision provided by the project research activity and the Representation Layer, namely the ontology modeling concept that is included in the proposed architecture. Section 3 explains how a demonstrator has been deployed for modeling, thanks to the eScop approach. Eventually, section 4 provides the conclusions and envisions future challenges in this field of research.

New MES Architecture for Manufacturing and Logistics Systems

In factory automation the evolutionary path of real-time control architecture is directed to overcome the rigidity of current traditional solutions. In fact, the current architecture of MES real-time control is based on fragmented and scattered information from the field, joined with a rigid hardware structure, hence being suitable and efficient only in stable contexts. In the remainder of the document this situation is called "AS-IS scenario" in contrast with the "TO-BE scenario" envisioned by the research. In the AS-IS scenario, in order to manage a production system, the supervisor generally requires an external input (i.e. information about product features and order portfolio), while business logic, scheduling algorithms and configuration data (i.e. information on process, transportation and storage equipment) are stored in the system database. Part of the required information is directly programmed in the Devices Control Units (DCUs) managing physical equipment. Depending on the hardware architectural solution, DCUs can be made of Manufacturing Control Units (MCUs), Computer Numeric Controls (CNCs) or Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). In the TO-BE scenario, in order to overcome the rigidity and limits of the traditional control architectures, the development of communication technologies is exploited to make it possible and affordable to integrate heterogeneous devices into a large network. To this end, specific attention is paid to web services protocols [START_REF]Web Services Architecture -World Wide Web Consortium[END_REF]. Web Services are "self-contained, self-describing, modular applications that can be published, located and invoked across the web" [START_REF] Tidwell | Web services-the web's next revolution[END_REF]. The scientific community has started to prove the validity of the use of web services and SOA for manufacturing automation and monitoring through industrial test-beds (e.g. [START_REF] Macchi | Use case analysis method for the implementation of service-oriented solutions for monitoring and diagnostics[END_REF][START_REF] Esonia | [END_REF]).

Due to the advent of SOA and Web service technologies, the task of monitoring and controlling locally distributed heterogeneous devices has become an effortless task. However, knowledge is required about the physical and logical structure of the application domain, if the collected data must be transformed into useful information. In the AS-IS scenario, this knowledge is encapsulated into the machine control systems, according to the specific situation. Hence, due to its static implementation, this configuration does not allow easy re-configurability and also interoperability of components by different manufacturers [START_REF] Wong | Ontology mapping for the interoperability problem in network management[END_REF]. To overcome this limit, one possible attempt is to abstract this knowledge and to store it, thus allowing quick and effortless reconfigurations [START_REF] Cai | ManuHub: A Semantic Web System for ontology-Based Service Management in Distributed Manufacturing Environments[END_REF]. To this end, ontologies are claimed as important to capture the conceptual structure of a domain [START_REF] Brachman | Knowledge representation and reasoning[END_REF][START_REF] Chandrasekaran | What are ontologies, and why do we need them?[END_REF].

Therefore, ontology seems to be a good solution for fulfilling the need of a dynamic knowledge base of the production system to be controlled. Nevertheless, if ontology is used just to describe the static aspect of a manufacturing system, most of its power is wasted and not used. The innovation about using ontology in factory automation is, in fact, to consider it within the tools in charge for the control of the manufacturing system. In this case, ontology highlights the unique feature to be queried and updated by web services with languages and tools belonging to the world of the semantic web [START_REF] Hunter | Enhancing the semantic interoperability of multimedia through a core ontology[END_REF]. Thus, ontology is definitely better than other databases to represent and manage web services, given that it can interact with them directly.

This research aims at showing the innovation in the ontology use for the control of the shop floor, with the ultimate aim of setting up the TO-BE scenario. Indeed, potentiality of knowledge-based semantic web services in factory automation has been already postulated by Lastra and Delamer [START_REF] Lastra | Semantic web services in factory automation: fundamental insights and research roadmap[END_REF]; the shift from the traditional control system architecture to the schema based on ontology and web services enables the transition towards a knowledge-based production control system (as previously postulated by Lobov et al. [START_REF] Lobov | Semantic Web Services Framework for Manufacturing Industries[END_REF]), in which the key is the semantic coordination of standardized production components. To this end, Long [START_REF] Long | Research on Development Method of MES based on Component and Driven by Ontology[END_REF] provided an overview on how to improve MESes, dealing with a generic ontology tier (level), even if not specifically detailed with manufacturing knowledge and Garetti et al. [START_REF] Garetti | Open automation of manufacturing systems through integration of ontology and web services[END_REF] further analyzed the integration of ontology and web services.

The platform proposed by eScop project is fully based on this research background. The platform architecture is represented in Figure 1 by a view of its kernel module, controlling the physical system and connecting it to the upper applications. The kernel is made by 3 main layers (Physical Layer, Representation Layer and Service Orchestration Layer), plus an Interface Layer to the applications part. Physical Layer corresponds to the hardware components of the production system, where each one of them is insulated by an embedded system providing intelligent device control to the physical equipment and acting as a SOA-based Remote Terminal Unit (RTU). Web services do not substitute RTUs (PLCs, CNCs and so on), but they are a layer above the machine-level controllers whose functionalities are seen as encapsulated, thus achieving a great degree of flexibility in various dimensions.

The main element for Representation Layer consists of the instance of the production system under control, taken from a reference ontology of production systems (i.e. the so called eScop Manufacturing System Ontology -MSO). This production system modeling allows to formally instantiate any specific production system, thus being able to drive the set of SOA based orchestration tools which act as the Supervisory Control System. eScop MSO is based on the Politecnico di Milano -Production System Ontology, the P-PSO, which represented manufacturing systems as outcome of a large research activity carried out at Politecnico di Milano. The research started back in the 90's, while recently the P-PSO has taken shape aiming at a complete representation of a manufacturing reality. Details are available in Garetti and Fumagalli [START_REF] Garetti | P-PSO ontology for manufacturing systems[END_REF].

Figure 1. Detail of the eScop Kernel

The eScop MSO can be considered as a meta-model of the manufacturing systems domain, since it specifies the entities (building blocks) it is made of, their attributes and their relations, thus defining a standardized data format for its description. The manufacturing system modeling in eScop MSO addresses three different aspects separately, i.e., the physical aspect, the process aspect and the control aspect.

eScop MSO ontology can directly interact with web services through SPARQL queries that allow to retrieve or update information stored within the ontology, activities needed for the successful run-time control of the system. The language in which eScop MSO is written and which allows querying and the related reasoning activities is OWL, as it is clearly explained by Pan [START_REF] Pan | A flexible ontology reasoning architecture for the Semantic Web[END_REF].

Orchestration layer acts as the Supervisory Control System of the manufacturing equipments and it is made of two main components: i) the set of Orchestration Tools and Services which interact, via the Representation Layer models, with the shop floor (i.e. Level 1 devices) and ii) the Production Scheduler which feeds the Orchestration Tools and Services with work orders coming from the factory Order Entry System. The ontology is exposed as a service itself through the Ontology Service on the Orchestration platform.

The resulting architecture will be flexible, reliable and scalable and tailored for control (and even monitoring) in industrial environments.

Application domain: picking system case

When the control system for a given shop floor system has to be established, the eScop MSO instance of the system is created by the operator through the Ontology Manager starting from the ontology model. The instance knowledge base is connected to Web Services Orchestration that, then, can send commands to the production layer through production web services controlling the physical system. This way, flexible command capability is achieved through the configuration knowledge content of the ontology.

Within the eScop project a test case is a picking system, composed by four main subsystems, as it is shown in Figure 2, namely: a carousel ring (indicated by "A" letter), a input/output warehouse station (B), a picking buffer station (C) and a gravity conveyor (D).

The purpose of the ring carousel is to create a buffer of the most used pallets to speed up picking operation and avoid time-consuming movement in/from the warehouse. For this reason, a high level control system is needed that manages the in/out coming pallets. The actual control system, the so called "AS-IS scenario", is based on a rigid and hierarchical structure on a three level control schema (according to the IEC 62264 [START_REF]Information technology-Open Distributed Processing-Unified Modeling Language (UML)[END_REF]): level 0, 1 and 2. The level 0 is mainly composed by electro-mechanical devices and controllers that can autonomously take decisions (e.g. stop a pallet in a compartment on ring carousel because the next compartment is occupied by another pallet), level 0 can interact only with level 1. Level 1 is composed by the PLC that acts as the control station, its role is to coordinate the actions for correct sorting of pallets; level 1 interacts with level 0 by collecting information and coordinating the action of level 0 actuators, the "decision points" ST01, ST02 and ST03 has been identified as the main decision points of level 1. Level 1 also interacts with the supervisory level, level 2, which provides the orders of the goods to be picked by operators and coordinates the action with other parts of the system to allow the correct working (e.g. it requests to warehouse control system to deliver specified pallets to the ring carousel).

The behavior of the system in the "TO-BE scenario" will be the same as in the "AS-IS one"; this is an aspect that has to be taken into account during the model generation of the logistic line.

The complete model, based on eScop MSO ontology and drawn in UML class diagram notation, is shown in Figure 3. Each object that composes the logistic system, described above and shown in Figure 2, belongs to one class and can be linked by association, by inheritance or by aggregation to another class. Hereafter the main classes that compose the model are presented, explaining how they are logically linked together and providing comments to understand the rationale behind the presented model. Figure 3. Modeling of the logistic system through eScop MSO Physical Aspect: The subsystem class allows creating customized building blocks that can be used everywhere in the object model. In this paper the class subsystem contains one item, that is the whole logistic line.

The component class: represents generic physical items of a production system. It can be further decomposed into subclasses according to the nature of the object: storage, transporter, processor, operator and sensor.

o

The storage class: comprises all the entities that perform a storage function, i.e. keeping material for later use into the production process. o

The transporter class: groups the entities that physically move a product in the plant. o

The processor class: is composed by the entities used to perform a production process function, i.e. transforming the material.

o

The sensor class: groups the items used to get physical information from the field, such as: position, status, temperature, etc. An operator belonging to operator class performs an action on/with a component.

Process aspect: An operation can be performed by a transporter or a processor on a product, the latter is identified though a ProductCode. Every product item is moved in the system thanks to a unit load that contains it and that is the pallet in this industrial case. Each unit load instance is stored in a compartment instance, that represents the single spaces for storage. To this end it is easy to see that the ring carousel (indicated by letter "A" in Figure 2) and the picking buffer station (letter "C") are two different storage items, each one composed by the aggregation of several compartment instances (namely the space comprised between two clutch rollers). The transporter moves the product instances, contained in a unit load, from one compartment to another one.

Control aspect: A controller item interacts with one or more sensors and/or other controllers to launch an order plan built as a composition of picking list instances. The picking list is an aggregation of row of items, each row representing a specified quantity of the same goods to be sent to the customer, so an aggregation of row items build a customer order. The controller item has to be intended not only as a PLC, but as every item capable to take decisions and to influence the status of the system and acting to fulfill the order plan instances.

Once the control system interacts with information structured as presented above, it is possible to control the entire shop floor flexibly of the described logistics system for picking. The control architecture, in fact, is flexible to any variation of the system (e.g. the change in the number of compartments, namely a change in the number of instances of compartment).

Conclusions

The present paper has introduced the general concept of the eScop research project, focusing on the Representation Layer of the eScop platform kernel. The theoretical use of modeling of a system for control logic has been addressed by a specific industrial case.

The case refers to an industrial domain, where automation is particularly important. In fact, automated logistic systems are systems that allow efficiency in many different companies. Moreover, they represent a typical case where the problem of flexibility for new configuration is crucial.

In order to cope with the problem, it has been demonstrated how the proposed approach is useful and can provide interesting results.

This paper aimed at introducing the possibility of a new vision of MES, providing a tangible example related to the modeling of the physical system. This fosters the dissemination for a larger research activity that is ongoing within eScop project and will provide new scientific results in the near future.

Figure 2 .

 2 Figure 2. Layout of the logistic system

Acknowledgements. The research leading to these results has received funding from the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n° 332946 and from the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR), correspondent to the project shortly entitled eScop, Embedded systems for Service-based control of Open Manufacturing and Process Automation. The authors would like also to personally thank all the European partners of the project and, in particular, INCAS S.p.a that provided the material and support for the development of the presented case.


Lise Lillebrygfjeld Halse
email: lise.l.halse@himolde.no

Global Value Chains in Shipbuilding: Governance and Knowledge Exchange

Keywords: Global Value Chains, Supply Chain Management, Knowledge, Shipbuilding

des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

The latest decades have been characterized by an increasing globalization, which has led to geographically dispersed production networks, pushed forward by intensified competition and cost focus. This development challenges companies in high-cost countries. Reducing production costs by introduction of automation, often combined with systems for production efficiency such as Lean, is one way of meeting this challenge.

Another is to focus more on product differentiation and innovativeness [START_REF] Isaksen | Suppliers and Strategies for Upgrading in Global Production Networks: The Case of a Supplier to the Global Automotive Industry in a High-cost Location[END_REF]. The latter strategy has been pursued by the Norwegian Maritime cluster, which delivers complex and customized vessels for offshore purposes, and categorized as Engineer-To-Order (ETO) producers [START_REF] Haartveit | Integration Alternatives for Ship Designers and Shipyards[END_REF]. Furthermore, the innovative strength of this industry has been ascribed to close user-producer linkages between geographically proximate actors, where knowledge has been easily transferred [START_REF] Asheim | Regional Innovation Systems: The Integration of Local 'Sticky' and Global 'Ubiquitous' Knowledge[END_REF]. Despite being leading in this market segment, price competition has led to increased offshoring of production to low-cost locations. Due to more geographically disperse value chains this development may represent a challenge for the innovativeness of this industry. On the other hand, global production networks can be considered as knowledge networks, where companies can access knowledge from foreign knowledge sources, which they can combine with their own internal knowledge base. A widespread view in the literature is that the most innovative firms access international sources of knowledge, where they merge a strong local knowledge base with high levels of connectivity to other regions in the global network [START_REF] Semlinger | Cooperation and competition in network governance: regional networks in a globalised economy[END_REF][START_REF] Mackinnon | Beyond strategic coupling: reassessing the firm-region nexus in global production networks[END_REF]. However, the type and amount of knowledge that is exchanged will depend on the form of cooperation established between the companies in the supply network. Little attention has been drawn to how the coordination of global supply networks will affect the knowledge sharing in those networks [START_REF] Iammarino | The structure and evolution of industrial clusters: Transactions, technology and knowledge spillovers[END_REF]. Furthermore, literature on management or coordination of global supply chains of ETO industry is scarce [START_REF] Haartveit | Integration Alternatives for Ship Designers and Shipyards[END_REF] This paper aims at filling this gap in the literature by providing two case studies of two shipbuilding companies residing in the Norwegian maritime cluster. First, I apply the concept of governance to investigate the forms of coordination implemented by the two shipbuilding groups in their global linkages, associated with their core activities: design and production of ships. I then investigate how the choice of governance affects knowledge sharing in these linkages. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: First, the theoretical framework applied in this study is presented. Thereafter, a brief description of the Norwegian shipbuilding industry and the research methodology is provided. Then the main shipbuilding processes are presented, shedding light on governance and knowledge flow in global linkages. Finally, the findings are discussed ending in conclusions and suggestions for further research.

Theoretical background

The literature presented in this paper draws on a typology for governance of global value chains rooted in transaction cost economics, production networks theory and the concept of technological capability. This framework is then extended to capture what implications the choice of governance will have for knowledge sharing in global value chains.

Governance of Global Value Chains (GVC)

Transaction cost theory has provided an important theoretical base for conceptualizing the form of coordination within supply chains. The governance concept provides a theoretical explanation of the most efficient way of organizing transactions between companies [START_REF] Williamson | Transaction-cost economics: the governance of contractual relations[END_REF]. Authors provide different typologies of governance, ranging from arm's length market dynamics at one end of the scale, to hierarchical structures on the other. Gereffi et al. [START_REF] Gereffi | The governance of global value chains[END_REF] offer a typology that helps explaining governance patterns in global value chains. They identify three variables that play a large role in determining how global value chains are governed: the complexity of transactions, the codifiability of knowledge, and the capabilities in the supplier base. Based on different combinations of these, they separate between five ideal governance types, where the governance types represent different degrees of explicit coordination and power asymmetry: market, modular, relational, captive and hierarchical. In the market type of governance, product specifications are simple, knowledge exchange is mainly price information, and the number of possible suppliers is large. In modular value chains, the product complexity is greater, but it is possible to codify the information with the use of standards, which makes it possible to easily switch supplier. The relational form of governance is based on mutual dependence, loyalty and trust, which has its basis in a common culture, developed through shared history and experience of the agents. The relational form of governance emerges when the information associated with products is complex, when the transferred knowledge is typically tacit and requires face-to-face contact between actors, and when supplier capabilities are high. In captive value chains, the supplier is dependent on the much larger buyers, and relations are characterized by high degree of control by lead firm. This mode of governance will emerge when products are complex, when it is difficult to codify information and when supplier capabilities are low [START_REF] Gereffi | The governance of global value chains[END_REF].

The hierarchal type of governance corresponds to vertical integration of suppliers, which is appropriate when products are complex and when the codifiability and the capabilities in the supplier base are low. As Gereffi et al. ( 2005) point out different industries may change between the different forms of governance in a dynamic manner.

Governance and knowledge

Pietrobelli and Rabelotti [START_REF] Pietrobelli | Global Value Chains Meet Innovation Systems: Are There Learning Opportunities for Developing Countries?[END_REF] find that learning mechanisms can vary widely within the various forms of governance of global value chains (GVC), using the governance typology of Gereffi et al. [START_REF] Gereffi | The governance of global value chains[END_REF]. Similarly, Isaksen and Kalsaas [START_REF] Isaksen | Suppliers and Strategies for Upgrading in Global Production Networks: The Case of a Supplier to the Global Automotive Industry in a High-cost Location[END_REF] analyze possibilities for knowledge upgrading and innovation activities in global production networks and argue that firms' possibilities for learning and knowledge upgrading depend on how the network is governed. Based on these theoretical frameworks, table 1 presents the forms of knowledge exchange and innovation opportunities associated with the different forms of governance in Gereffi et al.'s typology.

The Norwegian shipbuilding industry

The Norwegian shipbuilding industry fosters innovations in the design, engineering and construction of offshore and specialized vessels to the offshore sector, creating a global niche through a focus on product innovation and management of complex projects. The vessels produced by this industry are built on a high degree of customization for individual customers. Despite of high cost associated with this strategy, the industry has proved to be successful, most probably due to high degree of innovativeness and being world leading in systems integration. One of the most important characteristic of Norwegian shipbuilding industry is its flexibility, which gives customers the possibility to decide many features of the vessel quite late during the shipbuilding process [START_REF] Semini | Strategies for customized shipbuilding with different customer order decoupling points[END_REF].

The actors in this industry can be divided into four major groups [START_REF] Hervik | NCE Maritime klyngeanalyse 2012 : status for maritime naeringer i Møre og Romsdal[END_REF]: shipping companies (ship owner), design companies, shipyards, and equipment suppliers. The present study focuses on two shipbuilding groups. Both of these groups, however, have their own design companies delivering design to own and other shipyards.

Research method

In order to investigate the link between governance and knowledge transfer in global value chains in an ETO setting, I chose an explorative multiple case study [START_REF] Yin | Case study research: design and methods[END_REF]. The two largest shipbuilding groups in the Norwegian maritime cluster in North West Norway were chosen as cases in this study. The main data collection was performed through in-depth, semi-structured interviews of key personnel and through observations in meetings in central cluster companies, subsidiaries, suppliers, and representatives in foreign locations in China, the Netherlands, Poland and Brazil.

Shipbuilding group 1 has a global owner and consists of four separate shipyards in the cluster, and four at foreign locations. During the last years the group has built up a design company delivering design to own shipyards. Shipbuilding group 2 is family owned, and has one shipyard in the cluster. The group has long experience in designing vessels for its own shipyard and for foreign shipyards. Expanding the design and project management activity of the company has been the primary strategy the last years, as the production capacity of their shipyard is limited.

5

The shipbuilding process

Figure 1 identifies the main stages in the shipbuilding process 1 discussed in this paper. The conceptual and basic design process takes place within the cluster. However, the subsequent stages in the supply chain differ with respect to localization, depending on 1 This figure represents a simplified and sequential image of the shipbuilding process. In reality, engineering, procurement, and production activities are performed in near concurrency throughout the project execution (concurrent shipbuilding). the type of project undertaken, and the customer's needs. Two different production processes can be identified, representing value chains with different degrees of outsourcing to low-cost locations (offshoring). In the first process, A, basic design is performed within the cluster, and detailed design is performed in the cluster and at foreign engineering companies. Production of hulls is outsourced to low cost country locations, while most part of the outfitting, testing and delivery is undertaken locally in the cluster. Parts of outfitting are in some cases performed at foreign shipyards, and the strategy is to increase this activity abroad. In the second process (B) only conceptual design, basic design and parts of detailed engineering is carried out locally in the cluster. Parts of detailed engineering and the complete fabrication of the vessel are carried out at foreign locations in low-cost countries. The focus of this study is the part of the processes that is associated with the transition between engineering and production, including outfitting.

In the following, governance and knowledge transfer in the linkages between the Norwegian shipbuilding groups and the foreign company in each of these processes is discussed separately.

Fig. 2. Shipbuilding processes in the Norwegian maritime cluster

Cluster

Foreign location Cluster Cluster Foreign location

Process A

After the conceptual design phase, the contract is signed with a shipyard. A basic phase then follows where more detailed drawings of the vessel are made, before the ideas in the conceptual and basic design is translated into detailed engineering. The production of the hull is then started at a foreign yard. In this process, the main global linkage is between a Norwegian shipyard and the foreign hull yard. In principle, the production of hulls is not very complex, and the knowledge and information that needs to be transferred is mainly of explicit nature. Consequently, and according to Gereffi et al. [START_REF] Gereffi | The governance of global value chains[END_REF], several modes of governance could be appropriate in the link towards the hull yards.

Shipbuilding group 1 has chosen to acquire foreign companies in low cost countries in order to perform the work intensive parts of the shipbuilding process, as construction of hulls. Since the 1990s, they have owned several foreign hull yards. Respondents in this company argue that this strategy allows for control over the supply chain with regard to capacity, work processes and knowledge flow. However, the first years after the acquisition, there were challenges regarding the quality of the hulls (e.g. welding).

Design

Procure ment Detailed engineering Hull prod. Outfitting Delivery/ Comm.

A B B

These problems have been reduced over the years. Today there is considerable information and knowledge exchange between the home yards and the foreign hull yards, in particular related to production planning. Knowledge and information is frequently exchanged between the regional shipyards and the foreign hull yards. To further reduce costs the shipyard is in a process of moving activities like simple equipping from the local shipyards to the hull yards. However, this process has proven to be challenging, due to quality issues and delivery time.

Shipbuilding group 2 has chosen not to own the foreign hull yards, but has sought to establish cooperation with some foreign shipyards. The reason for this strategy is mainly based on financial risk and market considerations. However, Shipbuilding group 2 has not been able to establish long-term relationship with a particular foreign hull yard. According to theory, this may hamper knowledge and information exchange between the companies.

Process B

In this process, the global linkages must handle more complex interactions, as the complete vessel is being built at a foreign location. The global linkages in this process is typically between a Norwegian design/engineering company and a foreign shipyard. Both shipbuilding groups deliver complex and customized vessels and can be categorized as Engineer-To-Order (ETO) producers [START_REF] Haartveit | Integration Alternatives for Ship Designers and Shipyards[END_REF]. Traditionally, there has been exchange of dominantly tacit knowledge through face-to-face interaction between regional actors in the shipbuilding process, which is well adapted to this kind of production. From Table 1, we see that the relational form of governance corresponds to this form of knowledge exchange, which also has been the prominent form of governance regionally in the maritime cluster. This form of governance is, however, difficult to sustain over longer geographical distances. Consequently, the shipbuilding groups have to find other forms of governance towards foreign shipyards.

Shipbuilding group 1 owns wholly or partially the foreign shipyards (vertical integration). They have employees from their home yards stationed at foreign yards, which according to the respondents is critical in order to achieve project success. These persons have important roles in the knowledge transfer between the Norwegian design/engineering environment and the foreign shipyard. Vertical integration is in line with Gereffi et al. [START_REF] Gereffi | The governance of global value chains[END_REF], as the production of complete offshore supply vessels is complex, the information to be transferred is difficult to codify, and the foreign shipyards are reported to have low competence in building such vessels.

Shipbuilding group 2 exerts looser ties to the foreign shipyards. Their strategy in this process is to take a supplier role, delivering design, equipment packages and project management. By using standards and specifications, they aim at making the interface between the design company and the foreign shipyard more 'clean', allowing for more flexibility in the selection of foreign shipyards, in accordance with the modular form of governance [START_REF] Gereffi | The governance of global value chains[END_REF]. This implies transfer of knowledge associated with the shipbuilding process from tacit to explicit. Moreover, this approach requires codifiability of information related to building and equipping the vessel, which implies a development to-wards making standardized or simpler vessels compared to the advanced and customized vessels the cluster companies are renowned for. Furthermore, the complex and flexible nature of the ETO shipbuilding process represents an opportunity for selling project management competence to foreign shipyards. However, the mismatch between the competence and responsibility balance in the relationship with the foreign shipyards represents a challenge: With respect to competence, Shipbuilding group 1 is in power relative to the foreign shipyard, which resembles the captive form of governance in figure 1. The Shipbuilding group has, however, no formal responsibility in its relationship with the shipyards, as it only is a supplier of design and project management to the foreign shipyards. This mismatch may hamper knowledge exchange in the relationship.

Both shipbuilding groups report, independent of form of governance, that cultural barriers, and a different way of producing vessels at the foreign shipyards, represent challenges in carrying out shipbuilding projects at foreign shipyards. Cultural issues are in particular related to hierarchy and power distance [START_REF] Hofstede | Cultures and organizations: software of the mind : intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival[END_REF]. The complex nature of the production process of these vessels represents a challenge in a hierarchical production environment where workers are used to receiving orders and detailed instructions. Consequently, the design and engineering departments have found it necessary to increase the level of detail in project plans and technical drawings.

Discussion and implications

In this paper the choice of governance in global value chains of two shipbuilding groups has been studied. The paper identifies two dominant production processes with varying degree of offshoring of production. In the first (A), most of the complex work is still kept inside the cluster, which makes it possible to continue the traditional relational form of governance in large parts of the supply chain. In the second process (B), only design, some engineering and project management is kept within the cluster, while the production is carried out at foreign shipyards. This represents considerable challenges for coordination of activates along the value chain. The findings in this study largely confirms the theoretical framework provided by Gereffi et al. [START_REF] Gereffi | The governance of global value chains[END_REF], which predicts that hierarchical governance is appropriate when complexity is high, supplier capability is low and codifiability is low. Regarding knowledge, the findings indicate that vertical integration may provide stable relationship and gradually building of knowledge at the foreign production facilities, whereas building a global value chain is challenging for a shipbuilding group taking the role as a supplier of design of such complex and customized vessels. Independent of governance alternatives, findings indicate that the shipbuilding groups to a small extent acquire and take advantage of knowledge from the foreign production sites. This reflects that the innovation processes primarily takes place in the conceptual design phase, which still is regional, involving local demanding customers, design companies, shipyards and suppliers of advanced equipment [START_REF] Hammervoll | The Role of Clusters in Global Maritime Value Networks[END_REF]. The process is characterized by face-to-face contact and exchange of tacit knowledge. Personnel involved in this process often has a background from the construction of vessels, indicating that this knowledge is important also for the design process. From this perspective,

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1.Table 1. Governance and knowledge flow in global value chains

Table 1 .

 1 Governance and knowledge flow in global value chains

	Governance	Form of infor-	Knowledge exchange and innovation in supply
		mation/	chain
		knowledge
	Market	Price, simple	No deliberate knowledge transfer between compa-
		product specifica-tion	nies, innovation through knowledge spillovers and imitation (competitors)
	Modular	Standards, ex-	Knowledge transfer through standards, codes and
		plicit knowledge	technical definitions. Innovations related to develop-
			ment and improvements of standards and production
			processes.
	Relational	Explicit and tacit	Intense knowledge transfer through face-to-face in-
		knowledge	teraction, innovation of product through close inter-
			action between companies in network having com-
			plementary competence.
	Captive	Explicit and tacit	Deliberate knowledge transfer from lead firm typi-
			cally related to narrow range of tasks, typically re-
			lated to production.
	Hierarchy	Explicit and tacit	Deliberate knowledge transfer, arenas for knowledge
			exchange, training programs. Cooperative innovation
			depends on power relations and competence.

increased global sourcing of production may hamper future innovativeness of this industry. This issue should be subject for further research.


Anna Hamranova
email: anna.hamranova@euba.sk

Stefan Marsina
email: stefan.marsina@euba.sk

Pavol Molnar
email: pavol.molnar@euba.sk

Frantisek Okruhlica
email: frantisek.okruhlica@fm.uniba.sk

Development of Information and Communication Systems within the Building of Project-Oriented Manufacturing Organization

Keywords: Project management, project-oriented organization, communications, knowledge, culture, Business Intelligence, project management office

Project management (PM) has become a managerial discipline which is an inevitable prerequisite of managing modern business organizations, especially manufacturing ones. When applied properly it helps organizations to cope with permanently changing environment predominantly represented by customers, suppliers, competitors, and public authorities. Development of the project management methodology leads to increasingly effective implementation of strategic changes which is fundamental for being competitive on the marketplace. This PM development is in the center of building project orientation of an organization. But, developing just PM without development of overall organizational culture leads to low effectiveness of projects implemented in the organization. That is why development of projects and project management should be supported by development systems and areas of activities such as communications, knowledge, training and development of employees, and development of organizational standards and norms. The article focuses on the area of communication by using Business Intelligence systems.

Introduction

Manufacturing companies more and more need projects and project management for being innovative, flexible, interoperable and efficient. Even quality standards take care of project management. For the field of project management the ISO 10 006 standards represent a clear definition of a project as a process that brings a planned change. [START_REF] Lacko | Strategic goals of project management[END_REF] However the use of projects in manufacturing organizations is known, it is less known, that the programs and projects are the outcomes of strategic thinking of top management of the organization. [START_REF] Marsina | Analýza pôvodu projektu v podnikovom prostredí. In: Economics, finance and management of enterprise[END_REF] Transition from strategic thinking to the particular act of strategy implementation is expressed in the following brief idea: A project starts when the management authorizes it. [START_REF] Rosenau | Successful Project Management -A Step-by-Step Approach with Practical Examples[END_REF] A project itself is not only a tool for technological or organizational innovation, but also a tool for generation of new managerial culture in the organization. Communication techniques applied in project teams enable mutual share of professional information which is essential for building a knowledge-based enterprise. Also techniques for saving information during the project, and at the end of it, offer possibilities to maintain the database of knowledge which is subsequently used for next events performed in the enterprise. The acquired knowledge has to be available for authorized people, so that the enterprise should develop organizational standards and norms for managing acquired know-how. All this mixed with purposeful training and development of the employees, who are important for providing core organizational activities, creates a ground for project orientation development.

The project-oriented organization becomes a significant issue in the strategic thinking of top managers today. Concerning the problem of getting right professional information in right time, the information flood coming from internet does not help sufficiently to increase the knowledge of specialists throughout the organization. Equally, it seems to be not satisfactory just to establish a position of chief communication, information, or knowledge officer in the enterprise without development of supporting relations and activities. The aim of this paper is to offer a model how to build project orientation in a business organization with focus on communication as one of supporting areas within this comprehensive process. This contribution has been elaborated on the basis of partial results of the research project VEGA 1/0933/14 supported by the Slovak Ministry of Education and Sport.

2

Project Orientation of an Organization

Model of Building Project Orientation

The low strategic thinking level of the top management in business organizations often reveals the orientation just on operational issues, short-term goals, and overlooking trends. This is very risky, and often leads to deep problems in near future. These organizations do not use projects for curing their systems problems, but they would like to take advantage of co-financing them by the European supporting funds. The evidence of this finding is available from results of an institutional VEGA research project carried out in 2005. [START_REF] Majtan | The evaluation of research questionnaire[END_REF] It must be stated, that it is a long-term run for such a poorly project-oriented organization to become a mature project-oriented one with developed programming. Also, the common professional effort of both managers and owners is a prerequisite. Owners usually have a majority in the Board of directors. If a company is to function professionally, it is very important that members of the board are properly skilled. [START_REF] Okruhlica | The Responsibility of Boards is Unreplaceable[END_REF] An integrat-ed model of the process of becoming strategically highly developed projectoriented organization is suggested in Table 1: Integrated model of transformation process leading to the project-oriented organization. [START_REF] Marsina | Project Orientation Helps Business Organizations to Become Competitive[END_REF] The model suggests that beside Project management development, which is in the center of the transformation process; there are other areas in the organization to be developed: Communications, Knowledge development, Training and development of employees, and Organizational standards & norms. Table 1 shows the transformation of a current organization into a project-oriented one. Columns from left represent initial state of a company/organization, which is not yet developed in an area, and next five developing steps lead to a project-oriented, strategically mature organization.

The project development in Table1 starts from the state when projects, if any, are designed and implemented by external experts. No special organizational unit cares for this area. In most, this is a competence of one top manager or the functional manager authorized by him/her. Through the gradual involvement of internal personnel the enterprise establishes its own unit, a project management office, for the administration of design and implementation of projects.

The model was tested in real business environment independently by two diploma students while elaborating their theses. The first company was a manufacturing one operating in defense industry and its project-orientation in all areas oscillated on 3 rd step of development. The second company was mixed construction and consulting one, and its state of project-orientation development was in four areas at 4 th step and in knowledge development area at 5 th step.

Communication and Knowledge Development Areas in an Organization

Knowledge development inevitably goes concurrently with development of communication culture and training and development of employees. At first, the knowledge of employees is exclusively connected with their profession. They have no idea about what is done by their colleagues in the next functional area. For example, people in technical area have no concern for economy and vice versa. Solution of a multidisciplinary problem is almost impossible. The third step proposes an interdisciplinary approach of people working in professionally different areas. In the fourth step the multidisciplinary knowledge is acquired during the project preparation and/or implementation. The multidisciplinary work on the project and intensive communications enable participants to learn much about the profession of a partner within the project team. The supporting role of top management to make communications in team effective is expressed by Yeatts: The managers' behaviors and what they said were the means of conveying this support. [START_REF] Yeatts | High-performing self-managed work teams[END_REF] The fifth step describes the managed activities of the project management office where specialists share professional information with partners. The project management office is becoming a consulting center of the organization. [START_REF] Gareis | Happy projects![END_REF] It can even become the publisher of a professional journal issued regularly minimum once a year. The acquired knowledge has to be saved and properly stored for using by others later on. In the organization, the area covering standardization and normalization takes care of it. Thereby, knowledge generated from communication can be formalized and positively influences the behavior and overall culture of an organization. [START_REF] Thomasova | Organizovanie. Ekonóm[END_REF]

Communication Problems in the Manufacturing Organization

Communications in an organization is a complex system of technically supported and non-technically supported communication. Non-technically supported communication is verbal or nonverbal (face-to-face). Information is exchanged between groups or individuals. Technically supported communication can be included to the information and communication systems known as IS/ICT. For the support of building or development of project orientation of an organization we must analyze both technically and non-technically supported communications.

In general, communication problems in the organization can be viewed from horizontal and vertical perspective. Fig. 1 shows a model of hierarchical and functional problems in communications within the organization.

Both phenomena -the hierarchical and functional communication gaps work simultaneously. The result is the creation of communication islands within which specialists operate. For example, it is clear that to improve the mutual behavior of partners in a supply chain in specific situations means actually the change of behavior of individual partners, i.e. the change of their culture. Definitely, it is a key process and not a short-term one. The developed communication systems should remove the communication gaps which are shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 Implications of bad hierarchical and functional communications in the organization (adapted by [4])

Another communication problem has been defined by Schulte. He calls it "Conflicts of goals between functional departments in the manufacturing company". [START_REF] Schulte | Logistics[END_REF] The functional departments especially in manufacturing organizations speak different professional languages and follow different goals. For example, marketing managers thing about wishes of customers, production managers about low costs, lead times and quality, research and development people thing about most modern design of products, and financial managers about investment and financial sources. One of the places where they can understand each other is a project team, because they share the same common goal.

Communication isles Communication gaps functional

Communication gaps hierarchical

Business Intelligence Tools for the Development of Project-Oriented Manufacturing Organization

The evolutionary maturity model of Business Intelligence applications is well compatible with the Model of development of a project-oriented organization.

On the basis of study several models concerned with maturity of Business Intelligence systems it has been found that each model is focused on the development of a specific part of Business Intelligence systems. For further research the BIMM (Business Intelligence Maturity Model) was developed initially by Gartner Company, then published by authors Chamoni & Gluchowski. [START_REF] Chamoni | Integrationstrends bei Business-Intelligence-Systemen -Empirische Untersuchung auf Basis des Business Intelligence Maturity Model[END_REF] This model was supplemented with elements from the TDWI (The Data Warehousing Institute) and Hewlett -Packard models. They served to determine the stages of BI maturity model evolution. Concurrently, criteria for measurement of maturity level of the individual enterprise were established. [START_REF] Hamranova | Aspekty implementácie Business Intelligence v slovenských podnikoch[END_REF] Starting from the above mentioned it is possible to describe BIMM as follows:

The BIMM consists of 5 levels, where each level covers 3 areas within which every level will be analyzed: a) Business processes and reporting, b) Information technologies, c) Strategic management of an organization (the strategy in relation to BI)

1 st level -pre-defined reporting This level represents organizations, which start thinking about BI implementation, or those which have passed several bad starts and revalue they BI strategy.

2 nd level -BI within the professional departments Organizations on this level prefer manual solutions while creating analyses. They start planning and monitoring business processes, where they tend to apply new methods.

rd level -BI expansion to all areas of organization

The third level of maturity model can be characterized by a need for integrating the subject or vertical oriented information solutions, which were implemented on the second level. Thereby organizations gain possibility to define metrics in more detail, e.g. metrics which require data from more than one area.

th level -expansion the number of users and decision making support

Beside the top and middle management users of BI there is an extension of access for lower managerial levels of the organization, i.e. support of innovation and overall activity of employees.

th level -the active knowledge management

The 5 th evolutionary level of the BIMM is characterized by activities related to integration of IS/ICT within the organization with other external systems all focused on increasing the value of business organization. The critical factor of success is the knowledge management principles application together with full support for Business Intelligence systems utilization.

According to published research [START_REF] Chamoni | Integrationstrends bei Business-Intelligence-Systemen -Empirische Untersuchung auf Basis des Business Intelligence Maturity Model[END_REF][START_REF] Hamranova | Aspekty implementácie Business Intelligence v slovenských podnikoch[END_REF] manufacturing companies' lag behind in Business Intelligence area compared to IT, financial and telecommunication companies. According to the BIMM the manufacturing companies reach only the 1st. or 2nd level maximally.

There are more suitable simpler and cheaper solutions for the manufacturing companies focused on basic business processes, whereas especially for small enterprises the BI solutions within information systems ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), or the open source solutions are sufficient.

Further research for possible improvement of Building project-oriented organization model will take into account the above mentioned achievements and the 5 levels of BIMM will be tested against the 5 levels/steps of the Project-oriented organization model.

Conclusion

To become a mature project-oriented manufacturing organization means to undergo a process which is based on strategic thinking and systems approach of the owners and executives. The aim of this contribution was to offer a model for manufacturing organizations presenting how to build the project orientation not only through developing projects and project management but also with support of other four activity areas development. This comprehensive approach ensures better the sustainability of high level project-orientation of the organization. Communication as one of the four supporting areas in this comprehensive process was discussed in more detail.

In manufacturing companies communication problems occur not only as hierarchical gaps but as extreme functional gaps caused by diversity of professional orientation of organizational units. Building of project-orientation can be a remedy.

Table 1 .

 1 Integrated model of transformation process leading to the project-oriented organization

	Initial	Developed	1st step	2nd step 3rd step 4th step	5th step	Desired
	state	area				state


Nicolas Petrazoller

Frédéric Demoly

Samuel Gomes

Top-down definition of design spaces based on skeleton modelling

Keywords: Assembly modelling, Skeleton-based modelling, Top-down assembly design, Proactive engineering, Design context definition, Knowledgeintensive design

This paper introduces a novel modelling approach based on the analogy to the incubator concept so as to provide a suitable support for designers through product design process. The main objective is to define a knowledge-intensive design context in the early product design stages. The main goal of the proposed approach is to provide a knowledge-based design context for designers by considering engineering knowledge in an appropriate and seamless manner. As such, the proposed design incubator will assist designers to make better-informed decisions by delivering knowledge and engineering information at the right time. A case study has been introduce to illustrate the relevance of the proposed approach.

Introduction

The current globalised competitive context requires industry to reduce development lead times at optimised costs and improve the quality and the efficiency of their products in order to fulfil customers' requirements. To reach these goals, a phase of architectural design is required. The role of product architects will be consider the numerous number of constraints (i.e. reliability, sustainability, ...) in the product design process. Product architects also have a global view on the system to be developed especially on functional, structural, behavioural, geometric and physical aspects which are associated to different viewpoints [START_REF] Demoly | Multiple viewpoint modelling framework enabling integrated productprocess design[END_REF].

The fact of working collaboratively and remotely on the same product is part of a recurrent issues in large-scaled companies. As such, it is important to define a design context to assist designers through their activities. This paper is based on previous research works on proactive design for assembly and skeleton based Corresponding author. modelling approaches ( [START_REF] Demoly | An Assembly oriented design framework for product structure engineering and assembly sequence planning[END_REF] [8] [START_REF] Demoly | Integrated product relationships management: a model to enable concurrent product design and assembly sequence planning[END_REF]). Built on this, the whole is to propose a proactive top-down modelling approach of layout elements based on an analogical reasoning approach with incubator in the early product design stage. The incubator is composed of several layers of engineering information and knowledge (i.e. skeleton entities, functional surfaces, design spaces, parameters, knowledge and requirements to name a few). Compared to previous research efforts in this field [START_REF] Demoly | Geometric skeleton computation enabling concurrent product engineering and assembly sequence planning[END_REF], this approach will introduce the generation of design spaces from skeleton interface entities and functional surfaces.

Built on this, section 2 reviews some previous research works in the field of top-down and layout modelling design. In Section 3, a presentation of the design incubator concept is proposed and the overall approach is also presented. Then section 4 discusses about the deployment of the approach through a mechanical assembly. Finally, conclusions and future work are given.

Related works

This section aims to give a brief overview of published research works on topdown and layout modelling design issues, so as to provide the foundation of the proposed approach based on current status and challenges.

Top-down design

Top-down approach starts with the formalisation of requirements and the establishment of general layout models, specifying but not detailing any first-level components. Then, components are refined in greater details until the overall definition of the product. Support for top-down design and multiple viewpoints is a key point of top-down design which should be take into account when developing computer environments for mechanical assembly design [START_REF] Libardi | Computer environments for the design of mechanical assemblies: a research review[END_REF]. An overview in this research domain [START_REF] Jian | Research state and development directions of product top-down design[END_REF] highlights some issues such as assembly model representation for top-down product design and the reasoning method from conceptual model top parametric model which must be tackled. In addition, Mäntylä [START_REF] Mntyl | A modeling system for top-down design of assembled products[END_REF]state that the design process could be decomposed into several stages (i.e. functional, conceptual and detailed design) while a top-down design process should support multiple abstraction models.

Layout Modelling

The product design process is composed of several stages from the identification of customer needs to the detailed definition of product [START_REF] Pahl | Engineering design, a systematic approach[END_REF]. Layout design has a crucial role to play [3] in the embodiment design stage which is the focus of this paper. By using layout elements (featured by geometric entities and engineering information), it is possible to support designers activities and exchange design data with other teams. In literature, many attempts have been made to carry out various aspects of the layout design. [START_REF] Kim | Kinematic analysis of spatial fixed-axis higher pairs using configuration space[END_REF] uses layout elements to define kinematics constraints between functional components. Li et al. [START_REF] Li | A new C-space method to automate the layout design of injection mould cooling system[END_REF] capture all the feasible designs to find an optimal geometry by integrating user-defined constraints. Theodosiou et al. [START_REF] Theodosiou | Information of layout constraints for product lifecycle management: a solid-modelling approach[END_REF] developed full comprehensive models for spatial constraints, and in particular, for free space requirements. Ballu et al. [START_REF] Ballu | New Design Method based on Functions and Tolerance Specifications for Product Modelling[END_REF] proposed a functional design method that early aides to identify and analyse functional geometrical entities and tolerance (Technologically and Topologically Related Surfaces). Mun et al. [START_REF] Mun | Protection of intellectual property based on a skeleton model in product design collaboration[END_REF] proposed a solution to share skeleton model among companies working collaboratively in order to protect their intellectual property. Delgado et al. [START_REF] Davila Delgado | Automated generation of structural solutions based on spatial designs[END_REF] uses spatial design to generate a structural solution inside it. Moreover, Gelston et al. [START_REF] Gelston | Boundary surface recovery from skeleton curves and surfaces[END_REF] proposed a method for reconstructing boundary surfaces corresponding to skeletal curves, and then extend the method for reconstruction of boundary surfaces corresponding to skeletal surfaces. Kovacs et al. [START_REF] Kovfics | Knowledge based floor plan design by space partitioning: A logic programming approach[END_REF] describes the incremental development of a knowledge-based system for supporting floor plan design. Bai et al. [START_REF] Bai | Collaborative design in product development based on product layout model[END_REF] deployed tools based on Product Layout Feature concept to carry out collaborative design activities among multi-disciplinary teams. Skander et al. [START_REF] Skander | Design and manufacturing interface modelling for manufacturing processes selection and knowledge synthesis in design[END_REF] proposed a skeleton-based method and models that tackle the issue of manufacturing processes selection and constraints integration , as soon as possible, into the product modelling stage. Csabai et al. [START_REF] Csabai | Container spaces and functional features for top-down 3D layout design[END_REF] uses design spaces to analyse interferences between product components. Gane et al. [START_REF] Gane | Design Scenarios: Enabling transparent parametric design spaces[END_REF] defined a methodology for building and managing requirements driven design spaces with parametric Computer Aided Design tools.

Proposed approach

This section presents the proposed approach which introduces the design incubator concept (Fig. 1). Design incubator provides a knowledge-intensive and living support to designers by defining layout product geometry at the beginning of the embodiment design phase. Such analogical reasoning will enable the introduction of a novel paradigm in CAD modelling stage.

The incubator improve coordination and information flows between three systems, such as Product Data Management (PDM) system, knowledge base and CAD system. Its role is first to generate a design context to designers. Then, when designers start their activities, it will identify and analyse their intents. Once design intents are captured, a request to the knowledge base is process in order to get appropriate engineering information or knowledge for designers at the right time. Finally, when designers store their component, the incubator will generate design intents history. Such procedures will ensure understanding and traceability in design with new technical objects.

Overall methodology description

Based on the SKL-ACD approach [START_REF] Demoly | An Assembly oriented design framework for product structure engineering and assembly sequence planning[END_REF] [19], an enriched flow chart is introduced to describe the proposed approach in a more detailed view (Fig. 2). An explanation of the different steps of the method is visible below:

Case Study

In this section, the proposed approach is illustrated with a mechanical system (Fig. 3). Each step of the method are described for a better understanding (Fig. 4 and Fig. 5). 4.1 Determination of the skeleton minimal graph (Step 3 to 6 of Fig. 2) and Introduction of an assembly coordinate system (Step 7 to 8 of Fig. 2)

The product architect starts by defining the kinematic pairs between each parts.

Based on the kinematic pairs, the skeleton entities and position constraints between each parts are deducted. At this point, to facilitate the management of the skeleton entities, it is possible to simplify the proposed skeleton graph by generalize and concatenate skeleton entities. Based on the minimal skeleton graph of the previous step, an assembly coordinate system is introduced. Each skeleton entities are linked to this new assembly coordinate system by the intermediate of geometrical constraints. Then, the geometrical constraints are concatenated. Based on previous steps, the skeleton interface entities are defined and associated to skeleton entities.

Then, it is possible to concatenate skeleton interface entities in order to simplify the design environment. Finally, after this simplification, the functional surface are deduced from the skeleton interface entities.

Conclusions and future work

In this paper, a novel approach to define a design context in the early phases of the design development has been proposed and described in detail. The current issue of the paper is to allocate design spaces to the assembly skeleton model. Defining design spaces based on skeleton modelling will permit a better understanding of "what to design" by designers. To illustrate the feasibility and the relevance of the proposed approach, a use case has been carried out. Finally, three main issues demand further research: the incorporation of knowledge; adding requirements; and create a link between the method and PDM system.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. Incubator concept.

Fig. 2 .

 2 Fig. 2. Enriched flowchart of the proposed approach.

Fig. 3 .

 3 Fig. 3. Case study : vice and parts list of the case study.

Fig. 4 .

 4 Fig. 4. Definition process of a minimal skeleton model.

4. 2

 2 Allocation of skeleton interface entities and functional surfaces (step 9 to 10 of Fig.2) and generation of design spaces (step 11 of Fig.2)

Fig. 5 .

 5 Fig. 5. Definition process of design spaces models.

Acknowledgements

The research activity is part of the INGéPROD (Productiveness for Product-Process Engineering in a Design Chain context), which has been funded by French Automotive Cluster Pôle de Compétitivité Véhicule du Futur. The authors would like to thank General Electric for this collaboration and all the financial supports of this research and technology program: DRIRE de Franche-Comté, Communauté dAgglomération du Pays de Montbéliard, Conseil Général du Doubs and Conseil Régional de Franche-Comté.


Cecilie Peter Bjerg Olesen

Maria Damgaard

Hans-Henrik Hvolby

Iskra Dukovska-Popovska

Anita Friis Sommer

Cecilie Damgaard

Iskra Dukovska- Popovska

Framework for Information Sharing in a Small-to-Medium Port System Supply Chain

Keywords: Information sharing, supply chain integration, ICT, role based access, coordination, trust

ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

Introduction

Port systems are an important part of many supply chains, as a place for transport transformation and cargo consolidation. Ports are often characterised by a complex supply chain environment, including not only many external customers, but also many different companies within the port, making the coordination and planning even more complex. In addition, the environment is unstable because of the high variety and lack of knowledge about the timing of the activities of the different actors at the port system. This creates a need for information sharing to ensure an efficient supply chain. Literature on supply chain management states that the companies should optimise external coordination and collaboration with suppliers and customers to improve its performance and reduce uncertainties [START_REF] Mentzer | Defining Supply Chain Management[END_REF] [2], and to do this effectively information sharing is required. It is known that integration and coordination via information sharing in supply chains are beneficial [START_REF] Lee | The Value of Information Sharing in a Two--Level Supply Chain[END_REF], [START_REF] Yu | Benefits of information sharing with supply chain partner-ships[END_REF]. Information sharing is the act of sharing information between separate organisational units. A previous study dealing with how to enable information sharing in a port, found that there is a need to develop a system to support the sharing of information [START_REF] Olesen | Enabling Information Sharing in a Port[END_REF]. The paper highlights the benefits of information sharing and finds that sharing more real-time data will ensure better planning, reduce waiting time and increase utilization of resources in port systems. The general level of integration and information sharing in small ports have not been developed much, even though it is possible [START_REF] Olesen | Enabling Information Sharing in a Port[END_REF]. Today, most information sharing in small ports is based on manual tools, such as phone calls and emails. This type of information sharing is not very flexible and is resource intensive, as all changes are propagated via manual communications methods. Therefore, an automatic IT system is required to ensure a higher level of information sharing in ports. Olesen et al. [START_REF] Olesen | Enabling Information Sharing in a Port[END_REF] finds that for such information sharing system to be usable in a small port, the system must address the issues of trust between actors of the supply chain, availability and quality of data and the complexity level of the system. The paper is organized as follows: firs a literature presents the basic requirements and challenges for information sharing in supply chain. Further, a case study of smallto-medium port identifies the current information sharing and future needs of different actors at the port. Finally, an approach for sharing information in small-to-medium port system is proposed.

Theoretical Background and analysis

To develop an information-sharing approach it is necessary to understand the challenges related to the process of sharing information between organisational units. Therefore, this section will describe some of the benefits and challenges related to information sharing. According to Zhou [START_REF] Zhou | Supply chain practice and information sharing[END_REF] the dynamism of demand and supply are the reasons that information sharing has a high potential value. The main benefit of information sharing in the dynamic environment is the ability to adapt plans and schedules to external input, if there is new information or the external systems behaves in an unexpected manner [START_REF] Lee | The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chains[END_REF]. Furthermore, information sharing would allow the different supply chain partners to align their operations [START_REF] Yu | Benefits of information sharing with supply chain partner-ships[END_REF], making it easier to align the production system with the input and output based on the supply chains' requirements.

Information sharing challenges also include the quality and availability of information within companies. This applies to intercompany coordination of processes, but also use of information to internal planning, such as ensuring correct capacity plans. However, literature on information mainly discusses how to improve the data quality instead of the reason for bad or non-existing data [START_REF] Webster | Networks of collaboration or conflict? Electronic data interchange and power in the supply chain[END_REF], [START_REF] Holmqvist | smart Goods" and Mobile Rfid a Case with Innovation from Volvo[END_REF]. Besides ensuring the data quality, it is important to have the necessary data, thus the system should only contain the information required in order to keep partners updated on the events that affect them.

According to a review by Perego [START_REF] Perego | ICT for logistics and freight transportation: a literature review and research agenda[END_REF] information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for transport companies and supply chain communication is an underdeveloped area in both literature and industry. Zhang [START_REF] Zhang | Does ICT influence supply chain manage-ment and performance?: A review of survey--based research[END_REF] also underline the need for a new approach to how ICT systems should operate based on whether it is intra or inter company operations the system should support. Another problem regarding ICT solution is the sometimes extreme complexity that is caused by cross-functionality and huge amounts of data. Overall, information sharing systems should be developed to be as simple as possible. Furthermore, both user interface and technical aspects affect the complexity as both can prevent a successful implementation.

Currently, most ICT systems employs sharing technology to some degree, and what is missing is from both literature and praxis is a method that enables sharing of data and acknowledges the special requirements of small and medium sized companies. Trust is one of the major hindrances for sharing information between companies [START_REF] Braziotis | BUILDING THE EXTENDED ENTERPRISE: KEY COLLABORATION FACTORS[END_REF], [START_REF] Fawcett | Chapter 10 Port Governance and Privatization in the United States: Public Ownership and Private Operation[END_REF]. Trust between companies is one of the main challenges of information sharing. The trust level is often influenced by a lack of knowledge about the other companies' intentions and strategic direction [START_REF] Braziotis | BUILDING THE EXTENDED ENTERPRISE: KEY COLLABORATION FACTORS[END_REF]. A high level of trust is identified to enable: relational exchange of knowledge, facilitating parties to focus on long-term benefits of the relationship [START_REF] Mentzer | Defining Supply Chain Management[END_REF], supplier responsiveness [START_REF] Simatupang | The Collaborative Supply Chain[END_REF], and collaboration [START_REF] Lee | The Value of Information Sharing in a Two--Level Supply Chain[END_REF].

It is stated by Olesen [START_REF] Olesen | Enabling Information Sharing in a Port[END_REF], that information sharing can be non-existent, manual or automatic, and that the true benefit is achieved with automatic sharing. There are some solutions that focus on the technical aspects of information sharing [START_REF] Wiederhold | Information sharing system and method with requester dependent sharing and security rules[END_REF], [START_REF] Malone | Intelligent Information-sharing Systems[END_REF], and some that discuss information sharing in a supply chain [START_REF] Zhou | Supply chain practice and information sharing[END_REF], [START_REF] Ha | Sharing Demand Information in Competing Supply Chains with Production Diseconomies[END_REF]. However, it has not been adapted to fit systems like a port. Therefore, this paper focuses on how the information sharing systems should be adapted to support information sharing in port systems.

Based on the benefits, the requirements and the limitations of information sharing as is, the challenge moving forward is to realise why information sharing is not widely used in the industry. The main reasons are that most computer systems simply do not fit how the companies operate, and that there is no technical understanding of how companies are protective and secretive about even simple transaction data. The theoretical gap is not the technical solutions, but how they are applied in the organisation. To understand how an information sharing system can support a port system, the general setup of a port system is described.

3

Information sharing needs in a small-to medium port system

The case is done in a medium-sized port in Denmark with around 1800 ship berths a year. The port is a collection of many services and companies, often many of these need to work together in order to move cargo from land to sea or the other way around. Examples of actors in the port are:

• Port system ─ Port authority ─ Port Terminal • Transporters ─ Shipping lines ─ Truck carriers • Customer ─ Shipping brokers ─ Direct customers
The Port Authority has central role mediating information to all companies in the port system. The Port Authority controls the approach and docking procedures of the ships, and is in contact with the approaching ship. Further, the Port Authority is the link between the ships and land services, sending the orders to the local partner. Lastly, the Port Authority communicates with the shipping brokers to book future ship arrivals and services. The Port Authority receives information related to orders and experiences challenges when this information changes or arrives late. The only up-todate information comes from the GPS system that tracks the ships within ca. 200 km of the port, and the port authority would like to receive more updated information, about movement and timing, and be able to propagate this information to the rest of the port system. The port authority uses a lot of time to gather and distribute information about delays and other events, and feels a need for more automated approach.

The container terminal handles the movement of containers between land and sea. The information currently present here includes the timing of when the ships arrive and the defined deadline for when trucks arrive based on ship departures. This means that the information flow is limited and directly related to the physical flow. Information on the containers is not known by the terminal prior to the arrival, however all activities that follow the arrival are dependent on the freight letter following the container. Information about destination and time of arrival or departure is not available before the actual arrival of a truck. The information is available about containers arriving via ship, but only the ship arrival date and the number of containers. The information on containers going to or from the hinterland is only known at the terminal the day before ship departure, as orders for the ship are only final here. The terminal deals with many containers leading to high risks of waiting time and low resource utilisation. Furthermore, trucks tend to arrive around the latest deadline, creating queues and heavy peak hours. The container terminal often experiences rework from the lack of coordination of information. Improving the information sharing will improve its planning of slot times, capacity and placement in the storage area. Currently there is no way of sharing this information.

Shipping brokers are the connection between the customers needing transport of goods from one place to another and the different services available through a port. Their task is to book transport on both land and see. Their main challenge is when ships or cargo is delayed and this has influence on the booking of equipment or transport, so they would benefit from having access to this information directly and fast, instead of having to source the information through external partners. Further, a shipping broker would also benefit from having access to information about available capacity in the port, as they can use this to plan their next shipments.

A Special Cargo supplier producing large products for the offshore industry, often charters specials ships to transport its products to the installation sites. Since the ships are specially fitted for the job they are expensive to operate, and the equipment needed on the landside to load the ship is expensive. The problem here is that the company producing the elements, sometimes does not inform others that their production is delayed, which means that the ship waits at the dock until the cargo is ready. If the delays in production could be communicated earlier, the ship could take other tasks before, saving the company money, as a ship in dock is very expensive. Further shared information would also make the ship's approach available as a planning constraint.

There is a need to develop an approach that solves the issue of no or slow information sharing in a port system. A possible solution to this is proposed in the next section.

Information Sharing System at Small-to-medium Ports

This section suggests an approach of how information sharing should be conducted in a small-to-medium port. However, it is the intention that the presented approach would allow the creation of an information sharing system. From the literature, it can be concluded that to overcome the issues of data quality, technical complexity and trust, it is necessary to make a sharing system simple. Therefore the information sharing system must:

1. Be relatively easy to use and implement.

2. Share only transactional data, reducing complexity and increasing understanding of the consequences of sharing information. 3. Easy to configure the access to the data, based on organisational position.

The focus is on the ability to update information about changes inside the previously received order information, keeping these up to date. The solution should therefore focus on sharing only limited amounts of relevant data, reducing the need for complex software. This is supported by research studies, which indicate that high level of trust is not sufficient to reach the full collaboration potential, and requires the support of electronically mediated data exchange [START_REF] Olesen | Enabling Information Sharing in a Port[END_REF].

ICT approach

Fig. 1 illustrates the proposed system to share information in smaller ports. The important part of the system is its functionality in translating and sharing the specific and correct information needed by the supply chain partners. The system will function by having a set of standard information types that are relevant for the companies. The system will then map the chosen data types to the relevant data in a database, and be able to read changes when they happen. This allows customers and suppliers to exchange data between each other by implementing the same or similar systems. This proposed ICT solution can be a portal system that is either cloud based or installed on a local server; the specific solution is only relevant to the security setup of the ICT infrastructure in the companies. The system will not use any new technology but will make use of a new approach to how technology and management work together. This is done by creating a new way of assigning access to specific data, and by creating an abstraction layer as seen in Fig. 1. The abstraction layer or information sharing system has several functions; 1)

to secure data from the outside, by only allowing indirect specified access to databases, 2) creating a uniform API for data exchange and data presentation, 3) to filter the information based on which partner and which data this partner has access to. These functions are then based on the pre-existing agreements made between two companies' frontend office functions.

As a means to secure and segment access, Role-based user control is introduced to allow for easy configuration of access to the information in a way that gives the owner of the data full control and knowledge about the level of sharing. Role-based user control, means assigning access privileges on a per-user and user-group basis [START_REF] Sandhu | Role--based access control models[END_REF]. This allows an easy way of configuring exactly what information is available for whom, and gives the benefit of defining a unique sharing scheme for each user and user group, making it more configurable and understandable what information is shared with who. This will also meet the trust barriers to define a very specific amount of information that needs to be shared.

Fig. 2. Hierarchy of access and filtering

Fig. 2 shows the structure of groups and users. Each level can have a set of permissions that can be established for an entire group or for a specific user. This allows for segmentation of data, e.g. to customers giving access to capacity information and to suppliers access to inventory levels. It is therefore important that the access is controlled in a way that gives each company complete control and understanding of how the information is shared. Role-based access control also gives the benefit of defining a unique sharing scheme for each user or user group, making it more configurable and understandable what information is shared with whom. Stefansson[18] describes how to choose data that is relevant to the supply chain performance and how this transparency can increase the ability to track performance measurements. The solution described here does not consider any particular information as this is entirely configurable, and only requires a link to a database and a business decision about access restriction to this data. This might seem simple, but the important realisation is that each company have full control over the information sharing on a level that should be understood by managers and not IT professionals. This enable the people with the organisational knowledge to

Discussion

The suggested setup, if implemented, will allow companies to share updated information without having to worry much about trust and about technological complexity, while keeping the critical information updated in close to real-time. The potential of the solution is to include some of the dynamic properties of any supply chain into the operations and planning of internal activities in companies. This includes already present and updated information in production planning, which makes it more likely that the committed production resources are used to produce according to the exact demand of customers, which is the ultimate mission for any operations. Also it is the primary principle behind the Lean philosophy, to only do what adds value to the customer [START_REF] Womack | Lean thinking: banish waste and create wealth in your corpo-ration[END_REF]. By adhering to these concepts, it also helps reducing the impact of contingencies such as inventory etc. There are regular customers who deliver to the port several times a week and some who are one-off. The information system should therefore allow servicing these customers in different ways. Therefore, it is important that the system should have a web interface made available, where the customer has the possibility to book a time slot. There will be customers who will not make use of such a system. For more regular customers it would be more in terms of an application interface that can be connected to the companies' own planning systems and a central system in the port. Therefore, the IT solution should be able to translate the information from each actors IT system and make sure it will not influence other companies etc.

Conclusion and Further Research

This paper introduces an approach for creating an information sharing setup, usable for port supply chain integration. The information model takes the main barriers relating to information sharing into account and proposes a method to alleviate the impact of the barriers. The main contribution of this paper is to introduce a new abstraction layer between partner companies for sharing information based on identity and function. The proposed solution will help the trust issue by giving management insight and understanding about how and what they share and also making the benefits more clear, such as reducing the impact of dynamism. This allows an increased alignment of activities throughout the supply chain. The implication to theory is to bridge the gap between the literature showing the benefits of information sharing and the literature that shows how information can be shared over a public network, by considering the organisational issues. Further work will focus on operationalization of the approach, as in the current state only proposes the general aspect of the information approach. The implementation and evaluation of the performance effects of such a system are part of the future research. The ideas presented in this paper would also be relevant for other context such as manufacturing and it would be highly relevant to test a future information sharing system in this context as well.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. Automatic information sharing through an add-on system or API that creates access control and information filtering.