Reference Architecture for Modeling Collaborative Engineering Processes H.R. Siller, C. Vila*, A. Estruch, J.V. Abellán, and F. Romero Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Design. Universitat Jaume I, Av. de Vicent Sos Baynat s/n. 12071 Castellón, Spain Tel.: +34 964 72 8001
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Abstract. In this work, we present a Collaboration Infrastructure Reference Architecture needed to enable the product development process collaboration that has become a common practice between different departments and companies in the context of an Extended Enterprise. Also, a methodology to model the required workflows is presented in order to coordinate the product lifecycle collaboration activities focusing in the design and manufacturing. Keywords: Workflow Management, Concurrent Engineering, Global Manufacturing, Process Planning, Product Lifecycle Management.
1 Introduction Although collaborative engineering and cooperative design is closely linked to the use of web services (e-collaboration), the real situation of many implementations reminds us that it cannot be achieved by simply adopting the required technology commercially available today, like PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) tools. The new enterprise models of extended and virtual enterprise imply a new way of working where the team members are geographically dispersed and collaboration shall fit to the contracts between enterprises [1]. Today Computer-Aided tools enable market and product researchers, engineering designers and other experts to produce sophisticated geometric parts that can be examined and, later, modified by manufacturing engineers to ensure trouble-free manufacturing. In the framework of the extended enterprise even the most experienced designers cannot know the precise capacities of the processes used by the enterprises in charge of products manufacturing. The computer support for collaborative development system must satisfy a predefined collaborative process planning workflow that should also help users to draw up process plans at their different levels of detail. Therefore, it is needed not only a web-based tool for collaboration, but also a reference architecture that could help to identify the needs of integration and coordination of each product life cycle processes, and the exchange of information among involved agents. *
Corresponding author.
Y. Luo (Ed.): CDVE 2008, LNCS 5220, pp. 151–155, 2008. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008
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2 Collaboration Infrastructure Reference Architecture There is a need of solving current problems of information exchange and coordination between different design activities and distributed manufacturing plants. On one hand, we can find collaboration activities between marketing and design departments and, once there is a detailed design, with the prototypes department. On the other hand, when the manufacturing process plan is defined, we can find several manufacturing options to choose between inside resources and outside suppliers that must compete and, later, collaborate. Therefore, this scenario can be complex to handle and it implies the necessity of a collaboration framework based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). There are research efforts in the direction of collaborative manufacturing and distributed networks with applications based through the internet ([2], [3], [4] and [5]). This kind of systems can support not only cooperation and integration between the members but also processes projects and knowledge management [6]. Figure 1 shows a proposed architecture to identify participants and needs in the required collaborative framework to coordinate the engineering design levels and the different levels of process planning for manufacturing, within the context of a cluster of companies. In this scenario the main company A interacts with other members of the supply chain, companies B and C, which provide manufactured products or tools for materials processing. The main information management system supports the required product related management and the workflow enactment in order to enable the involved agent’s
Fig. 1. Collaboration across Product Lifecycle
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cooperation. The interaction with external systems can be necessary to carry out activities that need access to other enterprise systems like the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). The communication problems can be solved using well established internet standards.
3 Process Modeling Case Study In this research, a case study is presented to support a collaborative environment in an extended enterprise dedicated to the design and manufacture of a discrete product which requires several metalworking operations that fits well in the collaboration infrastructure reference architecture presented. In this work, we present a suitable methodology to model a process using a combination of widely accepted modeling methodologies and languages to cover different points of view about the collaborative process planning, including the activities to perform, the roles involved, the information exchange needs and others, as shown in Figure 2.
Fig. 2. Proposed strategy for workflow modeling
This methodology begins with the identification of the Product Lifecycle stages related with collaborative process planning within a virtual enterprise reference model. In our case, these stages have been identified as Design, Meta-Planning, Rough Process Planning (Macro), Detailed Process Planning (Micro) and Manufacturing. The next step was the modeling of collaboration workflow needed to coordinate the transitions among the previously identified Product Lifecycle stages. The UML (Unified Modeling Language) provided us two types of diagrams that were useful to identify workflow requirements: Use Cases and Sequence Diagrams ([7] and [8]). Use Cases helped us to describe how each participant interacts within the collaborative environment to achieve a specific goal as shown in Figure 3. The Sequence Diagrams allowed us to model the flow of interactions from a chronological perspective as shown in Figure 4. Once all the requirements have been identified, the last step was to use of a workflow specific modeling methodology like the emerging and more and more widely adopted BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation) [9] to create graphical models of the identified process operations, including activities and the flow controls that define their order of performance.
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Fig. 3. A Use Case diagram of the supply chain members relations
Fig. 4. A Sequence diagram of the supply chain members relations
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4 Conclusions The collaborative product development processes in an extended enterprise environment requires the use of modeling methodologies to facilitate the implementation of automated workflows to enable the required collaboration across the supply chains as presented in this research communication. The combination of different diagramming techniques like Use Cases and Sequence Diagrams to identify requirements, and a flowcharting technique like BPMN to create graphical models of the processes, is critical to the successful implementation of information technologies like PLM tools to enable the collaboration in these scenarios.
Acknowledgements This research was funded by Spanish and local Governments through projects aimed to the Collaborative Engineering Environment Applications. We want to acknowledge also the participation of the Spanish Ministry Science and Technology.
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