Patterns for Reuse in Production Systems Engineering

• Published in: International journal of software engineering and knowledge engineering Vol. 31; no. 11n12; pp. 1623 - 1659
• Main Authors: Meixner, Kristof, Lüder, Arndt, Herzog, Jan, Winkler, Dietmar, Biffl, Stefan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore World Scientific Publishing Company 01.12.2021; World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte., Ltd
• Subjects: Domains; Feasibility studies; Knowledge representation; Manufacturing; Reuse; Subject specialists; Systems engineering; Reuse; production systems engineering; Industry 4.0 asset; Industry 4.0 component
• ISSN: 0218-1940; 1793-6403
• DOI: 10.1142/S0218194021400155

In Production Systems Engineering (PSE), domain experts aim at reusing partial system designs implemented as Industry 4.0 assets and software. However, the knowledge on assets is often scattered across engineering artifacts from multiple disciplines and domain experts, making it difficult to find reusable assets and map them to requirements. In this paper, we (i) identify challenges and requirements for the representation of reuse knowledge in PSE, based on the results of a domain analysis in automotive manufacturing; (ii) refine the Industry 4.0 Asset Network (I4AN) meta-model that integrates multi-disciplinary dependencies between the assets; (iii) introduce the I4AN reference model that exposes recurring patterns; and (iv) present basic and applied patterns for reuse in PSE that aim at improving reuse efficiency and lowering risks. We evaluate the I4AN reference model and patterns with reuse scenarios in a feasibility study in automotive manufacturing. The study results indicate that the I4AN reference model and patterns satisfy the elicited requirements and enable PSE domain experts to identify patterns for reuse and sufficiently complete sets of reusable assets in their contexts.