Industrial collaborative networks are characterised by heterogeneous business processes and data structures. Enterprises joining these networks face difficulties when they have to manage and orchestrate information within the network, namely due to the lack of interoperability between the systems and software applications operating between them. The furniture industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the world, involving mostly small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The development of collaborative networked environments in this industrial sector has been identified of major importance, looking forward to enabling enterprises to extend the potential of their own business capabilities. Indeed, to keep its competitiveness, industry needs to accomplish rapidly the requirements in the digital global marketplace, and push promptly SME-based enterprises to adopt seamless electronic business services in networked environments, using modern ICT and standards among all agents involved in the furniture product life cycle. The funStep case study presented in this article developed a framework to accelerate the integration of enterprises in collaborative working environments, solving information interoperability problems in the furniture supply chain. The funStep framework enables gradual and sustained system interoperability, allowing incremental implementations using conformance options and classes. The funStep created an ISO standard which defines a formal structure for catalogue and product data under industrial domains of the furniture sector. Then, the ICT combined with the use of open-standards, and enriched by semantics representation, resulted in a suitable tool to improve enterprise competitiveness via a wider adoption of STEP Application Protocols in collaborative environments. Model Driven Architecture technology is used to enable automation of Model Morphisms, and therefore, translation at the information model and data levels. A reference ontology integrated in the standard product data model, permits an intelligent management at semantic level, providing enhanced capabilities for interoperability. The results of the case study presented stimulate enterprises on the adoption of technologies and practices to reach the future vision of furniture manufacturing business based on collaborative networked environments. It prepares industry and researchers to advance on the state of the art, and to establish solid proposals for the industry in general. The funStep case study has been validated by the industry, supported by European/International industrial research projects.

Ontologies facilitate the computational understanding, communication and seamless interoperability between people and organizations. They allow key concepts and terms relevant to a given domain to be identified and defined in an open and unambiguous way. Therefore, ontologies facilitate the use and exchange of data, information, and knowledge among people and organizations, towards intelligent systems interoperability. Tasks on distributed and heterogeneous systems demand support from more than one ontology. Multiple ontologies need to be accessed by the same, but also different systems. The distributed nature of ontology development has led to dissimilar ontologies for the same or overlapping domains. Thus, various parties with different ontologies often do not understand each other. To solve these problems, it is necessary to use ontology mapping geared for interoperability. This paper proposes a methodology to support the development of a common reference ontology for a group of enterprises sharing a business domain. This methodology is based on the concept of Mediator Ontology (MO), which assists the semantic transformations among each enterprisepsilas ontology and the referential one. The MO enables each organization to keep its own terminology, glossary and ontological structures, providing seamless communication and interaction with the others. A use case is described and the proposed methodology demonstrated.

The SLS additive manufacturing industry enables the development of products for diverse applications with distinct properties due to its excellent surface finish and ability to create varied part geometries, but it consumes high-performance materials with high acquisition costs. An extensive quarrying of stone leads to the accumulation of mineral residues, posing environmental hazards by contaminating soil and water when disposed of in landfills. The primary objective of the study was to incorporate mineral waste into the SLS technique and investigate the influence of its addition, along with a silane-based chemical treatment, on the mechanical performance of polymer-mineral composites (PA12-slate). Additionally, the feasibility of producing a highly loaded printed prototype, employing 50 wt% of mineral waste, was examined. Samples of PA12, PA12 blended with 50 wt% slate waste, and slate waste treated with silane underwent fabrication via selective laser sintering (SLS) and subsequent mechanical characterization, including tensile, flexural, and compressive tests. Additionally, the samples underwent accelerated aging using a QUV weathering tester, followed by mechanical characterization. The geometric accuracy, stability, and processing feasibility of these formulations were evaluated through SLS-printed composite prototypes utilizing PA12_50Sla_Si. It was found that the addition of 50% of slate to the PA12 presented mechanical properties decreasing compared to the printed PA12 only. However, an increase was verified when using silane-induced mineral bonding. The incorporation of mineral agents and silane enhanced the resistance of PA12 to aging. However, after aging, both tensile and flexural strength decreased across all printed samples. Nonetheless, this study showcased the feasibility of producing complex PA12-slate waste specimens containing up to 50 wt% of mineral waste using the SLS printing technique. Therefore, SLS presents itself as a viable means of adding value to this mineral waste.