Jan Vollmar

Surveying integration approaches for relevance in Cyber Physical Production Systems

Flexibility and adaptability are major challenges for modern production systems. To realize them integration approaches are required. Within this paper a literature survey on integration approaches and integration approach types is described based on an attempt towards a detailed characterization of both. It is intended to enable an informed decision for research and development directions towards modern integration strategies as required in Cyber Physical Production Systems.

Framework for standardization programs in the Engineer-To-Order industry

The Engineer-To-Order business encompasses companies producing a broad range of industrial products. Projects in this business are becoming increasingly complex, both from a technical and a management perspective. In this context, standardization programs have become a common approach to improve competitiveness and profitability of ETO companies. Standardization programs have their origin in the product business, which significantly differs from ETO business e.g. by the volume produced and the complexity of functional requirements. Nevertheless the use of standardization programs has increased during the last years. However, there is a methodological deficit for standardization, since approaches and principles which have proven in product business cannot be easily transferred to ETO business. As a consequence guidelines describing how standardization programs can be implemented in ETO companies are very scarce. Based on the analysis of six standardization programs, good practices and lessons learned for standardization in the ETO business have been derived and a framework was developed to support planning and implementation of standardization programs. The framework consists of a procedure model (step-by-step process for implementation), cross-process topics which are important in several process steps (e.g. change management, roles, tools) as well as utilities (e.g. templates, tools, glossaries). The framework provides companies a structured guideline for the planning and implementation of standardization programs in ETO business.

Evaluation of effectiveness and impact of decentralized automation

The necessity to improve the current automation concepts for cost reduction in plant engineering represents a widely discussed problem. Although research has been developing solutions for this problem area for quite some time on the basis of decentralized automation concepts, industrial companies have been showing reluctance concerning their broad application in practice. This contribution discusses the potential for use of decentralized automation of industrial plants in the context of strategic developments. The ramifications of such technological perspectives to the different stakeholders in an industrial life cycle, their interests and their processes are discussed and a method for the evaluation of decentralized solutions over their entire life cycle is presented, offering a basis for a well founded assessment of their cost effectiveness.

Standardization programs in the industrial plant business: Best practices and lessons learned

Organizations in the industrial plant business are facing an increasing competition and a rising complexity of the plants. Common approaches to increase the profitability of engineering organizations in this business are standardization programs. The underlying methodology of modularization and standardization is already successfully used the product business. In the industrial plant business however standardization programs are only slowly gaining ground, mainly due to the high customer specificity and small number of plants produced in this business. Nevertheless researchers agree that standardization programs have great potential. In this contribution, six standardization programs of a German engineering organization were analyzed in case studies. Based on these programs best practices and lessons learned are identified. The knowledge of these success factors as well as examples how these factors can be practically implemented will support engineering organizations to conduct their standardization programs more efficiently.

Characterizing integration approaches: Identifying integration approach candidates for use in industrie 4.0

Facing the current trends in the lifecycles of products and manufacturing systems flexibility and adaptability are of general interest. To make them applicable integration approaches are required. Within this paper an attempt towards the detailed characterization of integration approaches and integration approach types is made based on a literature survey. It is intended to enable an informed decision for the selection of research directions towards modern integration approaches as required in the Industrie 4.0 approach as well as to identify candidates within the field of existing integration approaches for further investigation.

System integration in modularization and standardization programs

The Engineer-To-Order business, which encompasses companies producing a broad range of capital goods, is becoming increasingly complex. In order to improve their profitability, engineering organizations in this business use standardization programs. While decomposition aspects in such programs are already in an advanced state, the integration of components, modules or subsystems into a customer-specific solution as well as integration of engineering disciplines, life cycle phases and stakeholders are critical but yet neglected aspects. Therefore, the focus of this contribution lies on the role of system integration in standardization programs. It identifies various objects for integration from which seven types of integration with regard to modularization and standardization programs are derived. The analyses of this contribution are based on a literature review and case studies of six standardization programs.

Engineering of Next Generation Cyber-Physical Automation System Architectures

Cyber-Physical-Systems (CPS) enable flexible and reconfigurable realization of automation system architectures, utilizing distributed control architectures with non-hierarchical modules linked together through different communication systems. Several control system architectures have been developed and validated in the past years by research groups. However, there is still a lack of implementation in industry. The intention of this work is to provide a summary of current alternative control system architectures that could be applied in industrial automation domain as well as a review of their commonalities. The aim is to point out the differences between the traditional centralized and hierarchical architectures to discussed ones, which rely on decentralized decision-making and control. Challenges and impacts that industries and engineers face in the process of adopting decentralized control architectures are discussed, analysing the obstacles for industrial acceptance and the new necessary interdisciplinary engineering skills. Finally, an outlook of possible mitigation and migration actions required to implement the decentralized control architectures is addressed.

Reference process for the development of an engineering strategy

The critical influence of functional strategies on business success is undisputed, as well as the impact of engineering. Surprisingly, research on functional strategies for engineering organizations is scarce. Purpose: this contribution aims to provide engineering organizations with a guideline for the development and implementation of engineering strategies. Approach: first, a literature review determines the state of research for functional strategies i.e. which functional strategies are in the focus of research. The review also aims to evaluate approaches for the development of functional strategies. Then, a market analysis gives an overview of consulting offers for strategy development. To gain insight on how engineering strategies are developed in industrial practice, seven projects which focused on strategy development were analyzed. Findings: based on the analysis of seven functional strategy development projects a reference process for the planning and implementation of an engineering strategy is presented. Originality: there is a large body of literature on business and corporate strategies. On a functional level research focuses on marketing, procurement and manufacturing strategy. Functional strategies for engineering received no attention in the literature yet.

Function-based engineering framework for the standardization of industrial plants

Industrial enterprises are facing an increasing complexity of their manufactured products. In order to support engineering organizations to increase their profitability, this paper presents major success factors for efficient plant engineering. These factors are based on the analysis of six case studies regarding standardization programs from the plant engineering domain. Subsequently, a function-based standardization framework for the plant engineering domain is developed. The framework can be applied to fulfill the most important success factors identified in the case studies. It helps to improve the interdisciplinary collaboration throughout the whole engineering process of a plant by using mechatronic (information) objects. By providing a function-based modularization strategy for the engineering of plants, the project comprehensive reusability ratio of developed plant artifacts can be improved as well. Finally, the function-based engineering framework is evaluated in a case study to prove its feasibility.

Assessment of engineering performance in industrial plant business: Challenges for economic considerations in engineering

The plant manufacturing business is characterized by intensifying competition and increasing market requirements. Manufacturers try to increase their competitiveness through the improvement of engineering performance. In order to have a reliable basis for management decisions, engineering performance must be assessed comprehensively. The meaningfulness of such holistic considerations is undisputed, but in industrial practice such holistic considerations are rare. In search for causes for this phenomenon the authors identified 13 challenges which oppose the conduction of comprehensive assessments based on an empirical study and expert interviews. These challenges have their origin in structural conditions of the plant business as well as the complex role of engineering, which is connected in multiple ways to other trades, stages in the value chain and phases of the plant life cycle. In this regard, the prediction of cost developments, the quantification of engineering impact and a lack of common understanding of engineering performance turned out to be the main hurdles for performance assessments in an engineering environment. By considering these challenges in future assessments, engineering can be improved more effectively and its potential to increase the profitability along the complete value-add chain can be seized more efficiently.