Knowledge-Based Configuration: From Research to Business Cases - Tapa dura

"...quite informative, touching on most aspects of configuration...a good reference if your work involves configuration systems. There are also plenty of references to related items in the literature." --Computing Reviews

"This book is an excellent introduction and overview of the field of Configuration Systems. It covers the most important developments in the field." --HPCMagazine.com, August 2014

"I've always said that the key to mass customizing is a design tool that helps customers figure out what they want and then gets that information back into operations. Now here comes Knowledge-Based Configuration to guide you through the technologies behind such design tools. You won't truly understand Mass Customization without it!" --B. Joseph Pine II, author, Mass Customization and Infinite Possibility: Creating Customer Value on the Digital Frontier

"An essential  book to keep abreast of configuration-related research and practice and, at the same time, a useful introduction to key configuration concepts. A source of inspiration that promises to broaden the scope of configuration systems applications and enrich the variety of perspectives from which this subject is studied." --Cipriano Forza, Professor of Operations Management and General Management at Padova University, Italy

"Perfectly on the road that enhances the fit between customer and supplier! A great book that: is not promoting a single point of view!; gathers the diversity of industrial expectations, software solutions and theoretical foundations! ;will be THE reference on CONFIGURATION for the 10 coming years!" --Michel Aldanondo, Head of Industrial Engineering Laboratory of Toulouse University Mines Albi

Knowledge-based Configuration incorporates knowledge representation formalisms to capture complex product models and reasoning methods to provide intelligent interactive behavior with the user. This book represents the first time that corporate and academic worlds collaborate integrating research and commercial benefits of knowledge-based configuration. Foundational interdisciplinary material is provided for composing models from increasingly complex products and services. Case studies, the latest research, and graphical knowledge representations that increase understanding of knowledge-based configuration provide a toolkit to continue to push the boundaries of what configurators can do and how they enable companies and customers to thrive.

• Includes detailed discussion of state-of-the art configuration knowledge engineering approaches such as automated testing and debugging, redundancy detection, and conflict management
• Provides an overview of the application of knowledge-based configuration technologies in the form of real-world case studies from SAP, Siemens, Kapsch, and more
• Explores the commercial benefits of knowledge-based configuration technologies to business sectors from services to industrial equipment
• Uses concepts that are based on an example personal computer configuration knowledge base that is represented in an UML-based graphical language