Semantic service discovery and orchestration for manufacturing processes

The growing competition between manufacturers demands a higher versatility of factory automation technology. Component based automation principles propose an opportunity to address these challenges by encapsulating the functionality of mechatronic components in an abstract way. Service-oriented approaches depict a promising possibility to realize such architectures. Service discovery and orchestration are the key functionalities of such systems. However, standard web service technologies alone are not suited for the creation of highly-flexible automation systems. We describe a semantic service discovery and orchestration system, which is based on different semantic service technologies, and provide a concept towards the creation of adaptive production processes based on our experiences during practical implementation.