Integrated Model for Co-Development of Products and Production Systems - A Systems Theory Approach

The seamless co-development of products and production systems is still an unresolved challenge. Undoubtedly, progress has been made through the proposal and application of new methodologies in the collective of concurrent engineering. Still, there is a gap between modeling approaches in product development and in production system design. This gap is an obstacle, especially if many interdependencies exist among the constituents of products and production systems. This article aims at closing this gap by modeling these constituents in an integrated model. This model represents the product and the production plant as co-equal systems with subsystems, interactions, and behavior. It allows modeling every subsystem in all its lifecycle phases together with the rationale behind its design. A class model is refined for purpose of laying a structured basis for modeling that can be implemented in computer-based support. A real-life example from the automotive industry illustrates the application of an integrated model and highlights its benefits for co-development.