Technical debt in Automated Production Systems

The term technical debt borrowed from financial debt describes the long-term negative effects of sub-optimal solutions to achieve short-term benefits. It has been widely studied so far in pure software systems. However, there is a lack of studies on technical debt in technical systems, which contain mechanical, electrical and software parts. Automated Production Systems are such technical systems. In this position paper, we introduce technical debt for Automated Production Systems and give examples from the different disciplines. Based on that description, we outline future research directions on technical debt in this field.