Ontology-Based Documentation of Quality Assurance Measures Using the Example of a Visual Inspection

The development of a novel manufacturing process chain is a complex scientific challenge and requires interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration. Data need to be exchanged continuously between involved researchers in order to coordinate between individual process steps and to identify cause-effect relationships within the process. This publication describes an approach to provide seamless digital access to quality-related data and to further structure, semantically annotate and link process- and quality-relevant data. It uses a domain-specific ontology called Visual Inspection Ontology embedded in a Knowledge Management System to support the documentation of a quality-determining process. The ontology is applied to a use case from the development of a novel process chain to manufacture multi-material shafts within the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1153. A workflow to establish quality control measures regarding a novel process chain for multi-material high-performance components under development based on the proposed ontology is presented.