Zugl.: Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2008

Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2008.

Context. Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are information systems that manage manufacturing processes in factories. The execution of MES processes requires non-enterprise integration, which integrates MES applications, services, and automation systems within the factories. Objectives. We aim at developing a modeling approach that can be used to represent and execute MES processes. Having such an approach would help MES vendors to reduce the development cost to reconfigure systems, in order to achieve better business flexibility. Methods. In order to understand the state of the art of manufacturing modeling techniques, we perform a systematic literature review (SLR) in scientific article sources, including IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Compendex, Inspec, and Springer Link. In consideration of the criteria in modeling and executing MES processes, we evaluate the selected process modeling techniques. Based on the result of evaluation, we propose a three-view-based approach to support process execution. We develop a prototype to prove that an MES process can be executed by following our approach. We also conduct semi-structured interviews in industry to validate whether our proposed approach achieves the objectives. Results. In the SLR, 24 primary studies are selected. Our analysis reveals that existing modeling techniques have limitations to enable process execution. To overcome the limitation, we propose a three-view-based approach, which has an MES process view, an abstract plant view to represent the structure of technical systems, and a mapping view to enable the communication between MES tasks and the technical systems. We develop a prototype as the implementation of our approach, which comprises: a graphical editor for the abstract plant view, a generator of message routes for the mapping view, and a typical MES process to be executed in the context of a warehouse management system. The semi-structured interviews we conducted with three industrial experts show positive feedback to use and generalize our approach in industry, in case comprehensive tools can be established. Conclusions. Compared to the existing modeling techniques, the three-view-based approach is specifically tailored toward process execution. Based on the feedback from industry, we conclude that applying our approach provides the possibility to achieve better reconfigurability and flexibility of MES.

Although service oriented architecture has reached a particular maturity level especially in the technological dimension, there is a lack of common and acceptable approach to design a software system through composition and integration of web services. In this thesis, a service oriented system design approach for Service Oriented Architecture based software development is introduced to fill this gap. This new methodology basically offers a procedural top-down decomposition of a given software system allowing several abstraction levels. At the higher levels of the decomposition, the system is divided into abstract nodes that correspond to process models in the decomposition tree. Any node is a process and keeps the sequence and the state information for the possible sub-processes in this decomposition tree. Nodes which are defined as process models may include some sub-nodes to present details for the intermediate levels of the model. Eventually at the leaf level, process models are decomposed into existing web services as the atomic units of system execution. All processes constructing the system decomposition tree are modeled with BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) to expose the algorithmic details of the design. This modeling technique is also supported with a graphical modeling language referred to as SOSEML (Service Oriented Software Engineering Modeling Language) that is also newly introduced in this thesis.

In this thesis, a static analysis approach is introduced in order to develop correct business processes according to the Web Service Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL) specification. The modeling of the business processes are conducted with Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) which is a popular orchestrator of Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) based system through the description of workflow. This approach is also integrated to the Service Oriented Software Engineering (SOSE) design technique. The integration of this approach aims the development of complex business processes more robust and implementation of them more accurate and low error prone. Moreover, this approach will also decrease the development cost of the system and rework in the implementation phase. The implementation of the approach is also conducted and it is integrated to the existing service oriented architecture based tool named Service Oriented Software Engineering Tool (SOSECASE). This integration forwards the SOSECASE a step forward to an all-in-one service oriented architecure software development tool.

The subject of this research is to find a continuous solution, which allows the description, the creation, the provisioning, and the execution of value-added telecommunication services. This work proposes a framework for an easy and timesaving creation and provisioning of value-added telecommunication services in Next Generation Networks. As research method, feasibility, comparative methods are used in this study. Criteria and requirements for service description, service creation, service execution, and service provisioning, are defined and existing technologies are compared with each other and evaluated regarding these criteria and requirements. Extensions to the selected technologies are proposed and possibilities to combine these technologies are researched. From the results of the previous steps, a framework is defined which offers a continuous solution for the description, creation, provisioning and execution of value-added services. In order to test the proof of concept, this framework is prototypically implemented. For a qualitative analysis of the research targets and the proof of concept, an example service is created and executed within the framework prototype. Furthermore, in order to examine the validity of the quantitative aims and objectives of this research work, a second example service is created, and its characteristics are measured and analysed. The result of this research is a novel continuous approach for the creation of value-added telecommunication services. This research introduces new possibilities for the service description, service creation, service provisioning, and service execution through an extension of the common telecommunication real-time execution environment JAIN SLEE. Value-added services are described by using the business process execution language BPEL. This language facilitates a simple and fast service design. The service can automatically be composed from pre-defined and pre-deployed components.

This study develops an original theoretical model of critical managerially controllable factors that have high potential for achieving significant improvements in the (intermediate and ultimate) outcome(s) of product innovation efforts. To this end, the author draws on the relevant empirical literature and integrates four complementary theoretical perspectives, namely; the critical success factors (CSFs) approach, the resource-based view (RBV), the input-process-output (IPO) model, and the system(s) approach. The model (hereafter CFEMOs) aims to explicate the simultaneous direct and indirect/mediated interrelationships among the product innovation’s critical firm-based enablers (new-product fit-to-firm’s skills and resources, internal cross-functional integration, and top-management support), process execution proficiency, and performance outcomes (operation-level performance, product-level performance, and firm-level performance). Additionally, it aims to predict the variations of the process execution proficiency and the performance outcomes. The CFEMOs model was empirically tested using an online survey that was completed by 386 U.S. restaurants owners/senior executives on their recently innovated new menu-items. By utilising a partial least squares structural equation modelling, the statistical analysis substantiated that, compared to the models of the extant relevant empirical studies, the CFEMOs model has a broader scope and a superior predictive power. It simultaneously explains 72% of the process execution proficiency, 67% of the new menu-item superiority (quality, speed-to-market, and cost-efficiency), 76% of new menu-item performance (customer satisfaction, sales, and profits), and 75% of the new menu-item contribution to the overall restaurant performance (sales, profits, and market share). Furthermore, this study established that those restaurateurs who concurrently succeed in enhancing their internal cross-functional integration, top-management support, and new-product fit-to-firm’s skills and resources, descendingly ranked, would achieve high process execution proficiency, which subsequently would grant them superior operation-level performance, product-level performance, and firm-level performance. This thesis concludes by providing several key original contributions and crucial implications to product innovation research and practice, as well as offering several promising avenues for future research.

Factory shop floors of the future will see a significant increase in interconnected devices for monitoring and control. However, if a Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) is implemented on all such devices then this will result in a large number of permutations of services and composite services. These services combined with other business level components can pose a huge challenge to manage as it is often difficult to keep an overview of all the devices, equipment and services. This thesis proposes an SOA based novel assimilation architecture for integrating disparate industrial hardware based processes and business processes of an enterprise in particular the plastics machinery environment. The key benefits of the proposed architecture are the reduction of complexity when integrating disparate hardware platforms; managing the associated services as well as allowing the Micro Injection Moulding (µIM) process to be monitored on the web through service and data integration. An Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) based middleware layer integrates the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) based environmental and simulated machine process systems with frontend Google Gadgets (GGs) based web visualisation applications. A business process framework is proposed to manage and orchestrate the resulting services from the architecture. Results from the analysis of the WSN kits in terms of their usability and reliability showed that the Jennic WSN was easy to setup and had a reliable communication link in the polymer industrial environment with the PER being below 0.5%. The prototype Jennic WSN based µIM process monitoring system had limitations when monitoring high-resolution machine data, therefore a novel hybrid integration architecture was proposed. The assimilation architecture was implemented on a distributed server based test bed. Results from test scenarios showed that the architecture was highly scalable and could potentially allow a large number of disparate sensor based hardware systems and services to be hosted, managed, visualised and linked to form a cohesive business process.

Factory shop floors of the future will see a significant increase in interconnected devices for monitoring and control. However, if a Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) is implemented on all such devices then this will result in a large number of permutations of services and composite services. These services combined with other business level components can pose a huge challenge to manage as it is often difficult to keep an overview of all the devices, equipment and services. This thesis proposes an SOA based novel assimilation architecture for integrating disparate industrial hardware based processes and business processes of an enterprise in particular the plastics machinery environment. The key benefits of the proposed architecture are the reduction of complexity when integrating disparate hardware platforms; managing the associated services as well as allowing the Micro Injection Moulding (µIM) process to be monitored on the web through service and data integration. An Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) based middleware layer integrates the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) based environmental and simulated machine process systems with frontend Google Gadgets (GGs) based web visualisation applications. A business process framework is proposed to manage and orchestrate the resulting services from the architecture. Results from the analysis of the WSN kits in terms of their usability and reliability showed that the Jennic WSN was easy to setup and had a reliable communication link in the polymer industrial environment with the PER being below 0.5%. The prototype Jennic WSN based µIM process monitoring system had limitations when monitoring high-resolution machine data, therefore a novel hybrid integration architecture was proposed. The assimilation architecture was implemented on a distributed server based test bed. Results from test scenarios showed that the architecture was highly scalable and could potentially allow a large number of disparate sensor based hardware systems and services to be hosted, managed, visualised and linked to form a cohesive business process.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:47:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 WandersonCS_DISSERT.pdf: 4290121 bytes, checksum: 50ada3cdab9dc8f8edb8464d66f255e9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-23 / This dissertation presents a model-driven and integrated approach to variability management, customization and execution of software processes. Our approach is founded on the principles and techniques of software product lines and model-driven engineering. Model-driven engineering provides support to the specification of software processes and their transformation to workflow specifications. Software product lines techniques allows the automatic variability management of process elements and fragments. Additionally, in our approach, workflow technologies enable the process execution in workflow engines. In order to evaluate the approach feasibility, we have implemented it using existing model-driven engineering technologies. The software processes are specified using Eclipse Process Framework (EPF). The automatic variability management of software processes has been implemented as an extension of an existing product derivation tool. Finally, ATL and Acceleo transformation languages are adopted to transform EPF process to jPDL workflow language specifications in order to enable the deployment and execution of software processes in the JBoss BPM workflow engine. The approach is evaluated through the modeling and modularization of the project management discipline of the Open Unified Process (OpenUP) / Este trabalho apresenta uma abordagem dirigida por modelos para ger?ncia de variabilidades em processos de software, assim como sua implanta??o em sistemas de workflow. A abordagem ? fundamentada nos princ?pios e t?cnicas de linhas de produto de software e engenharia dirigida por modelos. Engenharia dirigida por modelos fornece suporte para a especifica??o de processos de software e sua transforma??o em especifica??es de fluxo de trabalho. T?cnicas de linhas de produto de software permitem a ger?ncia autom?tica de variabilidades de elementos do processo e fragmentos. Al?m disso, em nossa abordagem, tecnologias de workflows permitem a execu??o do processo em motores de workflow. Para avaliar a viabilidade abordagem, a implementamos utilizando tecnologias existentes de engenharia dirigida por modelos. Os processos de software s?o especificados usando Eclipse Processo Framework (EPF). O gerenciamento autom?tico das variabilidades de processos de software foi implementado como uma extens?o de uma ferramenta de deriva??o produtos j? existente. Finalmente, as linguagens de transforma??o ATL e Acceleo s?o adotadas para transformar o processo EPF para a linguagem de especifica??es de fluxo de trabalho jPDL, a fim de permitir a implanta??o e execu??o de processos de software no motor de workflow JBoss BPM. A abordagem ? avaliada atrav?s da modelagem e modulariza??o da disciplina de gerenciamento de projetos do processo aberto Unificado (OpenUP)