Intelligent Products

Several propositions for how to define and classify intelligent products have been made in the past. This definition is based on the survey article on Intelligent Products by Meyer et al. (2009).

Intelligent Products may in most cases be used interchangeably with concepts like Smart Products. However, Intelligent Products are not a synonym for concepts like Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing, Ambient Intelligence etc. that tend to focus on how human users interact with their environment. The Internet of Things concept could be a better fit, but it tends to be focused rather on connectivity and information exchange than on the 'intelligence' of the products. Intelligent Products are not always invisible and unnoticeable, they are rather reactive actors that are capable of autonomously adapting to changes in their environment.

It seems like Intelligent Products were first discussed in an after sales and service context in 1988 by Ives and Vitale. The first examples of Intelligent Products in the after sale context were computers running programs that tracked the configuration and performance, and could request for service and maintenance. The benefits in efficiency of service and reliability of operation could be substantial and was the basis for successful start-ups and new lines of business for established companies.

Only later did the idea of integrating intelligence and control into the product spread to manufacturing (McFarlane et al., 2003) and supply chain control (Kärkkäinen et al., 2003). In these application domains, new auto identification (Auto-ID) technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) made the tracking and tracing of products throughout the entire supply chain possible. When product individuals in a logistic/production setting are not only given a traceable individuality, but also the associated content (e.g. delivery terms, contract terms, exceptions, etc.), and also decision power is delegated to them, we enter the realm of Intelligent Products. Such Intelligent Products will have the means to communicate between themselves and also with logistic service providers. Intelligent Products link the Auto-ID technology to the agent paradigm and Artificial Intelligence. Agent technology has already been considered as an important approach for developing industrial distributed systems (e.g. intelligent manufacturing systems).

Intelligent Products can also play an essential role in product lifecycle management by their capability of collecting usage information and reacting on it proactively, e.g. estimating needs for maintenance or repair. By using sensor technologies like thermal, acoustic, visual, infrared, magnetic seismic or radar sensors the conditions of products can be continuously monitored. The access to information on how products have been used could significantly improve the way that products are recycled when they arrive to their end-of-life. Sensor technologies can also contribute to improvements in manufacturing nodes and to the logistics of the entire supply chain, by giving real-time status information (e.g. identification, location and other conditions) of the products.

References

B. Ives and M.R. Vitale. After the sale: Leveraging maintenance with information technology. MIS Quarterly, 12(1):7-21, 1988.

M. Kärkkäinen, J. Holmström, K. Främling, and K. Artto. Intelligent products - a step towards a more effective project delivery chain. Computers in Industry, 50:141-151, 2003.

D. McFarlane, S. Sarma, J.L. Chirn, CY Wong, and K. Ashton. Auto id systems and intelligent manufacturing control. Engineering Applications of Articial Intelligence, 16(4):365-376, 2003.

Meyer, Gerben, Främling, Kary, Holmström, Jan. Intelligent Products: A survey. Computers in Industry , Volume 60, Issue 3 April 2009. pp. 137-148.