Evaluation of a graphical modeling language for the specification of manufacturing execution systems

The Manufacturing Execution Systems Modeling Language (MES-ML) is a graphical modeling language, designed for the requirements engineering and specification of Manufacturing Execution Systems, developed during the project “SpeziMES” funded by the BMBF. The project aimed at the creation of an easily comprehensible and usable language to overcome the interdisciplinary challenges during the specification process of MES. As a method of evaluation, a series of interdisciplinary workshops were conducted to verify the real-world applicability of the MES-ML. This paper presents the project´s final evaluation steps, after the workshops had taken place. The language is evaluated by checking whether objective design principles for visual notations are adhered to and by conducting a series of guided interviews with industrial experts.