A knowledge graph attention network for the cold-start problem in intelligent manufacturing: Interpretability and accuracy improvement

In the rolling production of steel, predicting the performance of new products is challenging due to the low variety of data distributions resulting from standardized manufacturing processes and fixed product categories. This scenario poses a significant hurdle for machine learning models, leading t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Zhou, Ziye, Zhang, Yuqi, Wang, Zhuize, San-Martín, David, Liu, Yongqian, Liu, Yan, Wang, Chenchong, Xu, Wei
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::13d603569b1b93256546a031eca6cc78
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/426341
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Attention mechanisms
Cold-start problem
Graph neural network
Interpretable machine learning
Knowledge graph
Materials design
Mechanical performance
Descripción
Sumario:In the rolling production of steel, predicting the performance of new products is challenging due to the low variety of data distributions resulting from standardized manufacturing processes and fixed product categories. This scenario poses a significant hurdle for machine learning models, leading to what is commonly known as the “cold-start problem”. To address this issue, we propose a knowledge graph attention neural network for steel manufacturing (SteelKGAT). By leveraging expert knowledge and a multi-head attention mechanism, SteelKGAT aims to enhance prediction accuracy. Our experimental results demonstrate that the SteelKGAT model outperforms existing methods when generalizing to previously unseen products. Only the SteelKGAT model accurately captures the feature trend, thereby offering correct guidance in product tuning, which is of practical significance for new product development (NPD). Additionally, we employ the Integrated Gradients (IG) method to shed light on the model's predictions, revealing the relative importance of each feature within the knowledge graph. Notably, this work represents the first application of knowledge graph attention neural networks to address the cold-start problem in steel rolling production. By combining domain expertise and interpretable predictions, our knowledge-informed SteelKGAT model provides accurate insights into the mechanical properties of products even in cold-start scenarios.