Consistent Development of Automated Material Flow Systems using a model-based Approach

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Johannes Fottner; Professor Dr. Michael Goedicke; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Birgit Vogel-Heuser
• Subject Area: Production Systems, Operations Management, Quality Management and Factory Planning ; Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: from 2020 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 451550676

• Final Report Year: 2024

Final Report Abstract

The development of automated material flow systems (aMFS) involves engineers from different disciplines. Discipline-specific software and model types are used to generate digital development models of aMFS. At the beginning of the project, a survey was conducted among companies in logistics-related mechanical and plant engineering. It revealed that the primary source of error in development projects originates from the lack of effective communication among stakeholders when models are changed. The parallelized task processing causes a significant risk due to inconsistencies between the elements of different models. Fixing the inconsistencies at a late stage of project implementation can lead to excessive costs and time delays. To avoid this, model inconsistencies should be identified automatically in the early project phases and, if possible, corrected. For this purpose, a software was developed in this project that processes the models and detects inconsistencies both within and between the models. The extracted model information is coupled by means of consistency rules. The approach using bilateral rule definitions between elements of different model types was described by Kramer et al. as Virtual Single Underlying Meta Model (V-SUMM) and applied to the field of software development. In this project, a V-SUMM was developed as an example for a number of practically relevant model types that are applied in the development of aMFS. These model types are: BPMN, 3D-CAD, component list, requirements list, simulation model, simulation results, and PLC program code. In addition,, this project led to the possibility of additionally using a knowledge base with formalized aMFS domain knowledge for the consistency check. Semantic Web technologies were used for the technical implementation. Additionally, the partially automated generation of a new model based on information from other models can reduce potential errors arising from manual information transfer steps. Three evaluations were conducted at the end of the project. The results of these evaluations demonstrated the effectiveness of the KonMaFS approach, e.g., in reducing model inconsistencies as compared to manual checking processes. Additionally, the insights gathered from domain experts revealed potential avenues for future research, including the challenges associated with processing models created by commercial tools and reducing the preparation effort required to build a V-SUMM. The scalability of the KonMaFS software in managing complex consistency relations between industry-sized models, as well as the comparison of V-SUMM-based and traditional development processes, still need to be researched in collaboration with industrial partners in the future.

Publications

• Konsistente Materialflussplanung. In: Technische Logistik
  Wünnenberg, M.; Hujo, D.; Schypula, R.; Fottner, J.; Goedicke, M. & Vogel-Heuser, B.
  
• Modellkonsistenz in der Entwicklung von Materialflusssystemen. Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, 116(11), 820-825.
  Wünnenberg, Maximilian; Hujo, Dominik; Schypula, Rafael; Fottner, Johannes; Goedicke, Michael & Vogel-Heuser, Birgit
  
• Projekt Kon-MaFS: Forschung für durchgängige Materialflusssysteme
  Wünnenberg, M.; Hujo, D.; Schypula, R.; Fottner, J.; Goedicke, M. & Vogel-Heuser, B.
  
• A model-driven engineering design process for the development of control software for Intralogistics Systems. at - Automatisierungstechnik, 70(2), 164-180.
  Aicher, Thomas; Fottner, Johannes & Vogel-Heuser, Birgit
  
• Konsistenzmanagement zum optimierten Data Management als Basis zur Anwendung von Data Science im Produktlebenszyklus von Materialflusssystemen. In: Logistics Journal 2022 (2022), Heft 11.
  Wünnenberg, M.; Hujo, D.; Ji, F.; Schypula, R.; Fottner, J.; Goedicke, M. & Vogel-Heuser, B.
  
• Konsistenzprüfung bei der Modellierung von Materialflusssystemen. In: Rabiser, R.; Vogel-Heuser, B.; Wimmer, M. et al. (Hrsg.): Software Engineering in Cyber-Physical Production Systems (SECPPS). Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V., 2022.
  Schypula, R. & Wünnenberg, M.
  
• Inconsistency management in heterogeneous engineering data in intralogistics based on coupled metamodels. at - Automatisierungstechnik, 71(5), 364-379.
  Ji, Fan; Wünnenberg, Maximilian; Schypula, Rafael; Fischer, Juliane; Hujo, Dominik; Goedicke, Michael; Fottner, Johannes & Vogel-Heuser, Birgit