A hypermedia maintenance information system

Abstract

This article discusses the use of Microcosm, an open hypermedia system developed by the University of Southampton's Multimedia Research Group for Pirelli Cables building wire factory at Aberdare, South Wales. An open hypermedia system allows a single multimedia resource base to be usled for a range of applications, and permits the users to have access to the stored information, in a structured manner. The use of this technology is now widely accepted in education, yet it has not been fully exploited within manufacturing industry for applications such as maintenance, fault diagnostics and operator training. The development of the application is discussed, together with guidelines for the authoring of future systems. With the integration of Microcosm with knowledge-based systems for fault finding and network technology communication to remote databases, the concept of industrial strength hypermedia can be realised. W 'ithin industry, operational and maintenance information is normally held in paper form, with the size of the documentation ranging from a few hundred pages for a medium-sized industrial machine tool, to thousands of individual manuals, with supporting engineering drawings, for a complete manufacturing plant. In practice a number of problems with information retrieval from paper-based documentation can be highlighted: 0 With a paper-based system, if the issuing of updates and modification notes is not rigorously enforced, the available documentation may not be the latest version. 0 The constant cross referencing between text, engineering drawings and parts lists can be both time consuming and prone to error. The quality of the documentation, particularly on the shop floor, can be very poor.

Systems integration in maintenance engineering

“…Multimedia resources have been adopted for maintenance, diagnostics and training [9]. Maintenance and process information are linked on the factory floor [10].…”

Integrating Case-Based Reasoning and Hypermedia Documentation: An Application for the Diagnosis of a Welding Robot at Odense Steel Shipyard

“…Malcolm argued for hypermedia systems that had evolved beyond a stand-alone status to become a technology that integrates resources over the complete engineering enterprise. In a previous industrial hypermedia application , Crowder et al (1996) demonstrated that by using an open hypermedia system, a common knowledge base can be used for a range of tasks.…”

User‐interface design heuristics for developing usable industrial hypermedia applications

“…Consequently, Kasvi et al (1998) recommended an active, constantly available source of information that complements knowledge gained through training and education. The information is best supplied and managed using hypertext-hypermedia technology Crowder, Hall, Heath, Bernard, & Gaskell, 1996;Hosni & Okrasi, 1992;Kaareela, Oksanen, & Takalo, 1995;Kennedy, Gramopadhye, & Ramu, 1995;Nelson & Smith, 1990). An example where hypermedia is useful in a manufacturing context, provided by , is the maintenance of equipment.…”

“…• It is a good training tool that minimizes traditional training requirements (Kasvi et al, 1998) and is an effective reminder on how to do a task (Crowder, Hall, Heath, Bernard, & Gaskell, 1996).…”

“…• It allows quick changes to the application to incorporate changes to equipment and procedures (Kennedy et al, 1995), thereby reducing documentation obsolescence (Crowder, Hall, Heath, Bernard, & Gaskell, 1996;Kasvi et al, 1998). …”