A neutral information model for simulating machine shop operations

Small machine shops typically do not have the resources to develop custom simulations of their operations or data translators to import their data from other manufacturing software applications. We present an overview of an information model currently under development at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to address this problem. The model provides neutral data interfaces for integrating machine shop software applications with simulation. The information model provides mechanisms for describing data about organizations, calendars, work, resources, schedules, parts, process plans, and layouts within a machine shop environment. The model has been developed using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and the Extensible Markup Language (XML).