Development of Collaboration Model for Data Space-Based Open Collaboration Platform in Continuous Process Industries

This study aims to propose a data space-based collaboration platform targeting continuous process industries such as continuous casting of steel and oil refining. The proposed collaboration platform serves as a basic environment in which supply chain participants share data through a data space, further supporting effective collaboration among the participating companies. Specifically, it implements a collaboration model among supply chain participants that reflects the characteristics of continuous process industries in which the supply chain is centered around the core suppliers. In fact, the key issue of continuous process industries is how to effectively distribute the manufacturing capabilities and production capacities of key suppliers with large-scale equipment to demand companies. In this context, this study (1) examines the results of existing research on data space-based collaboration platforms, (2) derives the differentiating factors and implementation strategies of the collaboration process among supply chain participants in continuous process industries, (3) presents the basic structure and operating framework of the collaboration platform, and (4) validates the proposed collaboration model through a simulation study based on a hypothetical scenario. The experimental results show that the proposed method is not only superior to a conventional distributed approach but also achieves similar performance to a centralized approach.