It is an object of the present invention to define a single abstract hierarchy
data model using semantic techniques to manage different applications and to automate, if necessary, the process of generating
interoperability rules. Further, it is desirable to provide an intuitive
user interface that develops a natural and intuitive way to explore ontologies for a user, while shielding the user from technical aspects such as performing
SPARQL queries. According to the invention, this object is achieved by a method for providing an intuitive
user interface in at least one MOM
system which controls the manufacturing environment of an autonomous
plant, the method comprises the steps of: a) encoding manufacturing
domain knowledge for an autonomous
plant in an equal weighted co-
control network of an extensible and configurable ontology, b) defining the ontology of the MOM domain by semantic conceptualization of the manufacturing
domain knowledge; c) providing a web-based framework to create an intuitive
user interface for navigating the ontology and associating concepts included in the ontology with logical data structures from existing applications included in the MOM
system, wherein: c1) the user interface is capable of enabling a user to select an ontology and search concepts associated with the ontology that the user is interested in using public terms; c2) the user interface can also provide a
list of concepts matching the corresponding search; c3) the user interface can also enable the user to select at least one concept from the
list of concepts and provide a
list of entities relating to the selected concept; c4) the user interface can also enable the user to select at least one entity from the list of entities and provide a
visualization of the selected entity; and c5) the user interface can also enable a user to select a plurality of entities in the manufacturing domain that refer to the same concept, thereby generating a transformation rule to process logical data structures across said
plant and / or domain with respect to the selected entities in the manufacturing environment of the autonomous plant.