Towards a Formal Specification Framework for Manufacturing Execution Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces MES-ML, a formal modeling language designed to improve interdisciplinary specification, standardization, and testing of Manufacturing Execution Systems by integrating graphical and textual views based on a formal foundation.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel formal MES modeling language (MES-ML) that supports interdisciplinary discussion and consistent system specification, addressing limitations of existing notations.

Findings

MES-ML improves clarity in MES specifications

Application in yogurt production demonstrates practical utility

Evaluation shows increased efficiency in MES projects

Abstract

Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) optimize production and business processes at the same time. However, the engineering and specification of MES is a challenging, interdisciplinary process. Especially IT and production experts with different views and background have to cooperate. For successful and efficient MES software projects, misunderstandings in the specification process have to be avoided. Therefore, textual specifications need to be complemented by unambiguous graphical models, reducing the complexity by integrating interdisciplinary views and domain specific terms based on different background knowledge. Today's modeling notations focus on the detailed modeling of a certain domain specific problem area. They do not support interdisciplinary discussion adequately. To bridge this gap a novel MES Modeling Language (MES-ML) integrating all necessary views important for MES and pointing out their interdependencies has been developed. Due to its formal basis, comparable and consistent MES-models can be created for specification, standardization, testing, and documentation of MES software. In this paper, the authors present the formal basis of the modeling language and its core notation. The application of MES-ML is demonstrated taking a yogurt production as an example. Finally, the authors give some evaluation results that underline the effectiveness and efficiency of this new modeling approach with reference to four applications in industrial MES-projects in the domain of discrete and hybrid manufacturing.