Conceptual Modeling of Inventory Management Processes as a Thinging Machine

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Thinging Machine (TM), a new conceptual modeling approach for inventory management systems, demonstrating its effectiveness through a case study with IBM Maximo.

Contribution

It proposes a novel TM framework with five operations for modeling inventory processes, addressing limitations of existing conceptual modeling techniques.

Findings

TM provides clear high-level inventory process representations

Case study shows TM's applicability to real-world systems

TM enhances understanding of inventory workflows

Abstract

A control model is typically classified into three forms: conceptual, mathematical and simulation (computer). This paper analyzes a conceptual modeling application with respect to an inventory management system. Today, most organizations utilize computer systems for inventory control that provide protection when interruptions or breakdowns occur within work processes. Modeling the inventory processes is an active area of research that utilizes many diagrammatic techniques, including data flow diagrams, Universal Modeling Language (UML) diagrams and Integration DEFinition (IDEF). We claim that current conceptual modeling frameworks lack uniform notions and have inability to appeal to designers and analysts. We propose modeling an inventory system as an abstract machine, called a Thinging Machine (TM), with five operations: creation, processing, receiving, releasing and transferring. The paper provides side-by-side contrasts of some existing examples of conceptual modeling methodologies that apply to TM. Additionally, TM is applied in a case study of an actual inventory system that uses IBM Maximo. The resulting conceptual depictions point to the viability of FM as a valuable tool for developing a high-level representation of inventory processes.