A concise reference to the state of the
art in systems interoperability, Enterprise
Interoperability VII will be of great value to engineers and computer
scientists working in manufacturing and other process industries and to
software engineers and electronic and manufacturing engineers working in the
academic environment. Furthermore, it shows how knowledge of the meaning within
information and the use to which it will be put have to be held in common
between enterprises for consistent and efficient inter-enterprise networks.

Over 30 papers, ranging from academic
research through case studies to industrial and administrative experience of
interoperability show how, in a scenario of globalised markets, where the
capacity to cooperate with other organizations efficiently is essential in
order to remain economically, socially and environmentally cost-effective, the
most innovative digitized and networked enterprises ensure that their systems and applications are able
to interoperate across heterogeneous collaborative networks of independent organizations.
This goal of interoperability is essential, not only from the perspective of
the individual enterprise but also in the business structures that are now
emerging, such as complex collaborating networks of suppliers and customers,
virtual enterprises, interconnected organisations or extended enterprises, as
well as in mergers and acquisitions. Establishing efficient and relevant
collaborative situations requires the management of interoperability from a
dynamic point of view: a relevant and efficient collaboration of organizations may
require adaptation to remain in line with changing objectives, evolving
resources, unexpected events, etc. Many of the papers contained in this, the eighth
volume of Proceedings of the I-ESA
Conferences have examples and illustrations calculated to deepen
understanding and generate new ideas.

The I-ESA’16 Conference
from which this book is drawn was organized by the Escola de Engenharia da
Universidade do Minho, on behalf of the European Virtual Laboratory for Enterprise
Interoperability (INTEROP-VLab) and Interop VLab Portuguese Pole.