NSF AWARD 2333801

Supply and Demand Open Knowledge Network (SUDOKN)

Empowering small and medium-sized manufacturers by bolstering their resilience, visibility, and agility

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What is SUDOKN?

An interconnected network of publicly available manufacturing capability data focused on Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers (SMM).

What is the challenge?

More than 75% of manufacturing in the U.S. is carried out by small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMM) with less than 30 employees. Despite their critical role in the US economy, SMMs are especially challenged with sustaining operations due to a lack of visibility and limited access to accurate data and analytical capabilities.

The vulnerability of the U.S. manufacturers and supply chains has recently become more pronounced due to various reasons such as disruptions in global trade, rising labor costs, insufficient investment in the manufacturing workforce, and shortage of key materials and components. Future manufacturing supply networks need to be supported by novel cyber-enabled and AI-powered platforms and data-driven solutions that can provide supply chain decision-makers with real-time insight into the strengths and weaknesses of manufacturing companies and their workforce, as well as the potential areas of risk and vulnerability.

Our Approach …

In this project, we will prototype and deploy the Supply and Demand Open Knowledge Network (SUDOKN) which is composed of several open and interconnected knowledge graphs, aligned with formal ontologies, that collectively represent various types of supply and demand data needed to address the challenges posed by the use cases related to supplier discovery, capability and capacity analysis, and vulnerability assessment. This project is aimed at democratizing access to publicly available supply and demand data and maximizing its utility by proposing a three-pronged approach:

  • Develop a set of axiomatized and reusable manufacturing ontologies.
  • Develop and deploy a set of tools and methods for data collection, validation, and ingestion
  • Use these tools and ontologies to develop and deploy an open Manufacturing Capability Network (MCN).
Manufacturing Facilities in the U.S, Source: Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD)
Each manufacturer is a node in SUDOKN’s Manufacturing Capability Network.

SUDOKN will become a shared and public body of manufacturing capability knowledge that will evolve and expand through the direct participation of communities of users and domain experts.

It will fundamentally transform how manufacturing supply chains are built, scaled, and reconfigured.

SUDOKN will transform SMMs ability to unlock actionable insights from data, bolstering their visibility, resilience, and agility.