26 research outputs found
Working towards a holistic organisational systems model
This paper presents an integration effort combining a number of soft factors modelling tools and considers the potential impact of
such an overall tool in a system of systems environment. The paper introduces the tools developed and how it is envisaged they will
work together to provide a comprehensive, coherent output. It is suggested that a suite of interoperable tools of this form could aid the
design and operation of organisational systems and ensure they are fit for purpose
Verification and Validation in GERAM Framework for Modeling of Information Systems
The main aim of this article is to propose a methodology for using verification and validation tools in a framework for modeling of an Industrial Enterprise Information Systems. The first part of this paper introduces the Generalized Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology (GERAM) framework and its parts that are used for modeling of industrial enterprise information systems. The second part introduces the verification and validation concepts and tools. The third part of this article proposes the use of the verification and validation tools in GERAM framework to improve the coherency, correctness, error-free, qualitative aspects and efficiency of an enterprise information system
Démarche de modélisation d'une situation de conception collaborative.
Le caractère collectif des activités de conception nécessite le développement de méthodes et d'outils pour la maîtrise des processus de conception et des activités collaboratives. Le groupe de travail est assimilé à un système constitué d'entités en interactions de différentes natures et régi par des mécanismes de régulation et de coordination. Nous nous intéressons ici à la modélisation d'une situation collaborative. Après une définition de la situation et la description de différentes perceptions de ce concept, nous proposons un modèle de situation dans lequel nous caractérisons les entités de différentes natures qui sont en interactions. Une classification des relations entre ces entités est proposée. Les perspectives de ce travail sont de contribuer à l'amélioration d'outils permettant de supporter une situation de conception collaborative et de capitaliser ces connaissances en vue d'une réutilisation efficace
Model-Based Enterprise Continuous Improvement
The enterprise reengineering based on enterprise modelling is usually carried out within the framework of conventional projects. This leads to relatively long projects that are not compatible with a highly variable economic environment. The objective of the evolution management presented here is to use enterprise modelling and all the benefits it brings in a framework that allows for more continuous improvement than is generally observed. The proposed architecture is made up of three levels: a strategic level based on performance measurement, a tactical level that manages system migration and is based on enterprise models, and an operational level consisting of managing a portfolio of evolution projects. Together, these allow a shorter set of projects to be carried out, while remaining coherent and aligned with the company’s strategy. This approach puts enterprise modelling methods and continuous improvement/Lean management approaches into perspective, allowing complementarities and opening up interesting perspectives concerning enterprise re-engineering methods
A reference model for information specification for metalworking SMEs
The work reported in this thesis offers a novel basis for the realisation of specifications for
information requirements to meet the distinct operational requirements of metalworking
SMEs. This has been achieved through the development of a reference SME enterprise
model based on fundamental ideas of the holon and fractal factory concepts. The novel
concept of a node holon is introduced, which allows the representation of the human
dominated interactions in a company based on the fundamental concepts of the holon. This
offers a competitive alternative to the methods for enterprise modelling and information
specification which are based solely around business processes and procedural rules.
A new representation for the organisation of the SME has been based on identifying the
major zones of activity within the enterprise, which is seen to provide a more appropriate
representation for companies whose basis for operation is informally structured. Two
classes of zones have been identified, these are the business support zone and
manufacturing zone. The relationship between a top down description of the enterprise as
zones and the complementary bottoms up modelling of the enterprise based on concepts of
the node holon are described in detail.
A critical study of two candidate modelling architectures, namely CIN40SA and ARIS will
show the applicability of the individual architectures for the task information specification.
The constituents of the SMEE enterprise reference model is placed within the context of
contemporary enterprise modelling practice by mapping against one of the architectures.
This will demonstrate how the architectures can readily accommodate new modelling
approaches whilst retaining their major advantages, thereby increasing their applicability
and potential uptake.
The reference SME enterprise model has been readily applied in the study of an SME,
where a representation of the company has been achieved solely on the current organisation
of its business support and manufacturing activities. The holonic aspects of the enterprise
have also been successfully modelled. This process is supported by a CASE tool which has
it constructs underpinned by the reference SME enterprise model
A manufacturing model to support data-driven applications for design and manufacture
This thesis is primarily concerned with conceptual work on the Manufacturing
Model. The Manufacturing Model is an information model which describes the
manufacturing capability of an enterprise. To achieve general applicability, the
model consists of the entities that are relevant and important for any type of
manufacturing firm, namely: manufacturing resources (e.g. machines, tools,
fixtures, machining cells, operators, etc.), manufacturing processes (e.g. injection
moulding, machining processes, etc.) and manufacturing strategies (e.g. how these
resources and processes are used and organized). The Manufacturing Model is a four
level model based on a de—facto standard (i.e. Factory, Shop, Cell, Station) which
represents the functionality of the manufacturing facility of any firm.
In the course of the research, the concept of data—driven applications has emerged in
response to the need of integrated and flexible computer environments for the
support of design and manufacturing activities. These data—driven applications
require the use of different information models to capture and represent the
company's information and knowledge. One of these information models is the
Manufacturing Model.
The value of this research work is highlighted by the use of two case studies, one
related with the representation of a single machining station, and the other, the
representation of a multi-cellular manufacturing facility of a high performance
company
Implementing Shop Floor IT for Industry 4.0
The fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0, is a paradigm shift that is currently changing our society and the way we produce things. The first industrial revolution started at the end of the 18th century and was enabled by mechanisation and steam power. The spread of electricity enabled assembly lines and mass production during the first half of the 20th century, which was the second industrial revolution. Industry 3.0 came with the invention of the computer with an increase of automation such as programmable machines and robots. The fourth revolution is upcoming and is supposed to increase productivity and flexibility to the same extent as the previous three. The idea is to utilise recent advances in information technologies and the Internet to interconnect machines, tools, equipment, sensors, and people into decentralised intelligent systems that can sense and adapt to the environment.The term Industry 4.0 was introduced 2011 by the German government as a national programme to boost research and development of the manufacturing industry. Many countries with, including Sweden, has since then started similar initiatives. The aim is to prevent further outsourcing of production to low-cost countries by improving competitiveness with increased automation and flexibility. However, the implementation is slow and many manufacturing companies have only started to computerise and are far from digitalised. There are many challenges in terms of technology, people, and organisation. Many manufacturing companies do not know how to start the process of digitalisation, they lack the knowledge and the organisation.To implement a production environment according to the Industry 4.0 vision the manufacturing organisation and its view on technologies need to change. Part of this change is to design an information technology architecture that enables interconnection of machines, equipment, tools, and people on the shop floor. The aim of this thesis is to aid decision makers in the manufacturing industry to implement a shop floor IT according to the Industry 4.0 paradigm. This was achieved with the design science approach, which means that the researcher has implemented different artefacts (technologies) that have been evaluated. The work is based on six studies that connect to real problems found in the industry today. These studies are presented and discussed with respect to three research questions: important aspects, technological implementations, and effects. Results include concrete and practical examples of how to implement IT artefacts for the shop floor. Furthermore, it highlights the complexity of the problem and shows the need for a holistic and incremental approach
Human system modelling in support of manufacturing enterprise design and change
Organisations comprise human and technical systems that typically perform a variety of business, engineering and production roles. Human systems comprise individuals, people groups and teams that work systematically to conceive, implement, develop and manage the purposes of any enterprise in response to customer requirements. Recently attention has been paid to modelling aspects of people working within production systems, with a view to improving: production performance, effective resource allocation and optimum resource management.
In the research reported, graphical and computer executable models of people have been conceived and used in support of human systems engineering. The approach taken has been to systematically decompose and represent processes so that elemental production and management activities can be modelled as explicit descriptions of roles that human systems can occupy as role holders.
First of all, a preliminary modelling method (MM1) was proposed for modelling human systems in support of engineering enterprise; then MM1 was implemented and tested in a case study company 1. Based on findings of this exploratory research study an improved modelling method (MM2) was conceived and instrumented. Here characterising customer related product dynamic impacts extended MM1 modelling concepts and methods and related work system changes. MM2 was then tested in case study company 2 to observe dynamic behaviours of selected system models derived from actual company knowledge and data. Case study 2 findings enabled MM2 to be further improved leading to MM3. MM3 improvements stem from the incorporation of so-called DPU (Dynamic Producer Unit) concepts, related to the modelling of human and technical resource system components . Case study 4 models a human system for targeted users i.e. production managers etc to facilitate analysis of human configuration and also cost modelling.
Modelling approaches MM2, MM3 and also Case Study 4 add to knowledge about ways of facilitating quantitative analysis and comparison between different human system configurations. These new modelling methods allow resource system behaviours to be matched to specific, explicitly defined, process-oriented requirements drawn from manufacturing workplaces currently operating in general engineering, commercial furniture and white goods industry sectors
An approach to resource modelling in support of the life cycle engineering of enterprise systems
Enterprise modelling can facilitate the design, analysis, control and construction of
contemporary enterprises which can compete in world-wide Product markets. This
research involves a systematic study of enterprise modelling with a particular focus on
resource modelling in support of the life cycle engineering of enterprise systems.
This led to the specification and design of a framework for resource modelling. This
framework was conceived to:
classify resource types;
identify the different functions that resource modelling can support, with respect to
different life phases of enterprise systems;
clarify the relationship between resource models and other modelling perspectives
provide mechanisms which link resource models and other types of models;
identify guidelines for the capture of information - on resources, leading to the
establishment of a set of resource reference models.
The author also designed and implemented a resource modelling tool which conforms
to the principles laid down by the framework. This tool realises important aspects of
the resource modeffing concepts so defined.
Furthermore, two case studies have been carried out. One models a metal cutting
environment, and the other is based on an electronics industry problem area. In this
way, the feasibility of concepts embodied in the framework and the design of the
resource modelling tool has been tested and evaluated.
Following a literature survey and preliminary investigation, the CIMOSA enterprise
modelling and integration methodology was adopted and extended within this
research. Here the resource modelling tool was built by extending SEWOSA (System
Engineering Workbench for Open System Architecture) and utilising the CIMBIOSYS
(CINI-Building Integrated Open SYStems) integrating infrastructure.
The main contributions of the research are that: a framework for resource modelling has been established; means and mechanisms have been proposed, implemented and tested which link and coordinate different modelling perspectives into an unified enterprise model; the mechanisms and resource models generated by this research support each Pfe
phase of systems engineering projects and demonstrate benefits by increasing the
degree to which the derivation process among models is automated
An approach to enacting business process models in support of the life cycle of integrated manufacturing systems
The complexity of enterprise engineering processes requires the application of
reference architectures as means of guiding the achievement of an adequate level of
business integration. This research aims to address important aspects of this
requirement by associating the formalism of reference architectures to various life cycle
phases of integrating manufacturing systems (IMS) and enabling their use in addressing
contemporary system engineering issues.
In pursuit of this aim, the following research activities were carried out: (1) to
devise a framework which supports key phases of the IMS life cycle and (2) to populate
part of this framework with an initial combination of architectures which can be
encapsulated into a computer-aided systems engineering environment. This has led to
the creation of a workbench capable of providing support for modelling, analysis,
simulation, rapid-prototyping, configuration and run-time operation of an IMS, based
on a consistent set of models associated with the engineering processes involved. The
research effort concentrated on selecting and investigating the use of appropriate
formalisms which underpin a selection of architectures and tools (i. e. CIM-OSA, Petrinets,
object-oriented methods and CIM-BIOSYS), this by designing, implementing,
applying and testing the workbench.
The main contribution of this research is to demonstrate that it is possible to
retain an adequate level of formalism, via computational structures and models, which
extend through the IMS life cycle from a conceptual description of the system through
to actions that the system performs when operating. The underlying methodology
which supported this contribution is based on enacting models of system behaviour
which encode important coordination aspects of manufacturing systems. The strategy
for demonstrating the incorporation of formalism to the IMS life cycle was to enable
the aggregation into a workbench of knowledge of 'what' the system is expected to
achieve (i. e. 'problems' to be addressed) and 'how' the system can achieve it (i. e
possible 'solutions'). Within the workbench, such a knowledge is represented through
an amalgamation of business process modelling and object-oriented modelling
approaches which, when adequately manipulated, can lead to business integration