Integrating Modeling Languages with Ontologies in the Context of Industry 4.0

The evolving landscape of manufacturing systems and the increasing complexity of production lines necessitate innovative approaches for efficient information management and process modeling. The System Modeling Language (SysML) provides a powerful language to express such information. However, the expressiveness comes at a cost: on the one hand, the modeling phase requires a deep understanding of the domain; on the other, SysML lacks rigorous semantics. This work introduces a novel methodology that enriches the SysML with ontology reasoning in the context of manufacturing systems. The approach uses ontologies as a comprehensive knowledge base that encapsulates essential details about the machinery, their provided functions, and the associated constraints. The approach offers a reliable and efficient way to verify the consistency and correctness of production recipes: it ensures recipes' practical applicability in the manufacturing process while reducing errors that can occur in the modeling phase. The proposed methodology has been validated through its application to a fully-fledged manufacturing line, showing its applicability in real-world scenarios.