A method of rule match conflict resolution for product configuration in manufacturing

Rule-based reasoning is a commonly used method for product configuration in manufacturing. Rule match conflict resolution is an essential and critical issue for this method. In this paper, the conflicts are categorised into two types: the conflicts irrelevant to business and the conflicts relevant to business. The conflicts irrelevant to business originate from the rule-based reasoning mechanism, while the conflicts relevant to business originate from the product manufacturing logic. In order to resolve the two different kinds of conflicts, input and output matrices are created based on a positive reasoning rule model. The paper puts forward an evaluation function for resolving the conflicts irrelevant to business by the input matrix and a resolution method for resolving the conflicts relevant to business by the output matrix. Using a data-driven control strategy and the above conflict resolution methods, a product configuration-reasoning algorithm supporting the conflict resolution is given. Finally, an example demonstrates the feasibility of the approach.