The SWOP project will offer a radically new and extensible approach for ICT-support in the production of complex products. The approach is a breakthrough in manufacturing:

– an open, semantic, standard-based, distributed engineering platform, including multi-dimensional constraint-based and decision-making ICT tools, for
– fast and flexible production of customised, but “industrialised” complex solutions,
– with intensive input of knowledge capital of engineering and expertise expressed in parametric object catalogues together with reference design patterns.

The Open Engineering Platform will be mainly built on a tightly integrated combination of two state-of-the-art ICT technologies with high potential for business application and impact: Semantic Web technologies and Genetic Algorithms (for smart manipulation of semantic data).

The originality involves a simple but far-reaching paradigm shift: to be able to use pre-engineered and proven design solutions in the “early design” stage, rather than waiting until the “detail design”, so making pre-engineered knowledge into marketable product knowledge in an open market for intelligent objects. In other words, transforming traditional engineering (and engineering-like activities) from low productivity craft-based work into knowledge driven, value adding business – and dramatically reducing wasted skill and effort in repeated reinvention of one-off engineering solutions. The new developed engineering platform will be generic, but it will be made concrete and validated through four business contexts.

The project consortium is composed of four RTD performers (CSTB, TNO , VTT, IAT), four industry end-users (TWC, Blum, Trimek, Saturn Engineering), one ICT developer (Semantic Systems), and one engineering consultant (Paragon). The project duration will be 36 months, and the work will be organised around 10 workpackages.