Thècle Alix

Product-service systems scenarios simulation based on G-DEVS/HLA: Generalized discrete event specification/high level architecture

In the past decade, personal customers expected manufacturing companies to provide them with a physical product with, nonetheless, some basic additional services. Currently, customers expect a more comprehensive solution, integrating both a physical product and non-physical services, which explains why companies have started to propose Product-Service Systems (PSS). The underlying objective of profitability can be attained if the system is designed, based on system use, to avoid waste, and if services are developed jointly with products. Although all the requisite conditions are well-known, the optimal way to satisfy them is not formalized or even guided by any clear methodology. This paper proposes to create PSS models to be simulated in different service scenarios based on G-DEVS/HLA. The simulation results provide pointers to help decision maker choose between several PSS design scenarios to be manufactured. A case study from the toy industry is used to illustrate the proposed methodology.

Principles of Servitization and Definition of an Architecture for Model Driven Service System Engineering

European manufacturing enterprise will progressively migrate from traditional product-centric business to product-based service-oriented virtual enterprise and ecosystems However, the changes in this servitization process must be accompanied using specific techniques. This paper aims at presenting the principles of migration from traditional tangible product company to a set of virtual organisations ensuring the various steps of a Product2service life cycle as well as a preliminary result to develop service modelling architecture. The proposed Model Driven Service Engineering (MDSE) architecture is adapted from MDA/MDI approaches as developed in INTEROP Network of Excellence. This architecture defines the various modelling levels and the related constructs to model based on servitization principles. The potential modelling languages to represent these constructs at each level of MDSE will be presented at the same time. Conclusions are given in the end of the paper.

A Framework for Product-Service Design for Manufacturing Firms

Manufacturers propose services around the products they deliver to increase their competitiveness and reach objectives of profitability satisfying specific customer needs. Loyalty can be obtained under the condition that isolated offerings are replaced by integrated value adding solution composed of a product and of one or more product-service. The design of such solution requires to take account of four narrowly overlapping dimensions: the product, the product-service, the process and the organization. A challenge is to propose a model to support the firm core competence widening taking account of all the dimensions together, analyzing how they are interlinked and how they allow to design the coherent value adding solution. In this paper the two first stages of a methodology for new product-service development for manufacturing firms are presented that take account of firm’s environment, core competence, processes as well as the benefits expected by service delivery and the service value.

Advances in Production Management Systems, New Challenges, New Approaches

In this paper, two tools to improve the performance of the NEH-based heuristics for the flow shop problem with and without buffer constraints are proposed. The first tool is the use of the reversibility property of the problems considered and the second one is a new tie-breaking strategy to be use in the insertion phase of the NEH heuristic. In addition, we have analyzed the behavior of five initial solution procedures for both problems. The test done confirms the effectiveness of the measures proposed and allows us to recommend the best ordering procedure for each problem.

Services modeling and distributed simulation devs/HLA supported

Nowadays, Service design and development is more than ever key challenge for enterprises. Nevertheless, the set up of new services activities is not entirely formalized and guided by a clear methodology or commonly recognized standard. These facts can lead on wrong services definitions and practices that penalize the enterprise, in particular in the case this evidence arrive late. The idea introduced in this prospective paper is to model and simulate services before realizing them in order to validate desired properties and anticipate wrong behavior. Considering this proposal, a problem appears: no whole part of the service (actors, software, machines) can be included in the model, real actors are wanted to act in the loop. In addition, the simulation requires to interoperate and synchronize with heterogeneous and distributed actors of the service. The goal of the paper is to present a Service Modeling Environment based on a graphical Service Modeling Specification language and on Distributed DEVS Simulation. Having selected the essential concepts in the elaboration of Service Modeling, we present a description language to define Service Modeling processes. Then, we describe a method to transform Service Modeling specifications into simulation models; DEVS formalism is chosen for its formal properties. Based on the experience of distributed simulation, we propose to address the interoperability by conforming to the distributed simulation standard HLA. Finally, we define a distributed Service Modeling Environment that interfaces components of the Service Models and others actors in HLA compliant Federation.

Product and complementary service: looking for the right pair

In 2003, the French government advised manufacturing enterprises to associate service to the product they manufacture in order to keep competitive. A problem for these enterprises concerns the identification of the feasible service, i.e. the service that will allow a firm to be on the top in comparison to its concurrents, close to its customers and profitable. This paper aims to propose a way to determine this feasible service. The proposition is based on two assumptions: the first one concerns the fact that manufacturing firms are organized according to a specific model that correspond to the enterprise culture and that it will not be totally questioned. The second assumption concerns the fact that it is possible to differentiate products according to their technological complexity and their customer relationship

A multi-level technical data model for production planning

A generic model of multi-level technical data for hierarchical production planning is presented. This model encompasses products, task precedence constraints, resource capacities as well as the costs of manufacturing tasks and inventories on each time period. The model is recursively applicable to any level of details in the description of the production system and guarantees the global consistency of multi-level planning and of workload assignment scenarios. This paper relates the instantiation of the generic model to an industrial case in the wood transformation sector and highlights the potentiality of multi-level planning for the hierarchical optimisation of production performance.

Supporting make or buy decision for reconfigurable manufacturing system, in multi-site context

The make or buy decision is a strategic issue. When looking for finding out which components or products should be manufactured or externalized then buy, capacity for human and technical resources at the workshop level as well as costs of the externalization are key questions to be answered. In the case of mobile manufacturing systems that are movable between various locations, long term strategic aspects must be considered when addressing the make or buy decision problem. This paper aims to provide a structured make or buy decision model, adapted for reconfigurable manufacturing systems with strong mobility constraints. An industrial application case is provided to illustrate the presented method.

Service Systems Modeling and Simulation: The Sergent Distributed Approach

The economy is dominated by the service sector. Citizens see services as a way to have access to basic or complex commodities, to address environmental problems while manufacturers consider them as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition, to be closer to their customers and to improve the shopper experience. Services are of a huge importance in the national and international economy and are discussed in many domains: human and social science, manufacturing science, business domain, IT domain, etc. Several concepts related to service have merged as well as new scientific disciplines. General issues linked to service design, service implementation, service operation management, service quality, service modeling and simulation, product-service system design are still under consideration and the multiplicity of the domains concerned failed to come up with unanimous answer. This paper proposes a contribution to service modeling and simulation that can potentially be used in any area. The proposed model is based on the most relevant concepts coming from a specialized literature review on services. A distributed simulation model of service is then proposed.

Product-Service Systems Modelling and Simulation as a Strategic Diagnosis Tool

Manufacturers have developed Product/Service-Systems (PSS) strategies to increase their competitiveness and reach objectives of profitability, satisfying customer’s specific and evolving needs as well as environmental needs in term of grasp reduction and pollution decrease. Despite, the announced success of such a strategy, industrialists fears that the strategy will not give the expected results. To avoid unsustainable developments and reach product-service systems features, manufacturers are looking forward methods and tools that can help them predicting an a priori level of performance of the whole system they intend to design in terms of sustainability, use, profit, etc. Precisely, we aim at proposing a demonstrator able to support decision in the design of new sustainable and eco-efficient product-service system.