Methods and tools for manufacturing enterprise modelling and model enactment

To design, build and operate contemporary manufacturing enterprises it is necessary to formalise the processes within these life-cycle phases, thereby providing a basis for automated support and the definition of reference solutions. In 1991 a research program entitled `model driven CIM´ was funded by the UK Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) to provide support for integrated manufacturing systems engineering. A prime deliverable of the work is a collection of CASE workbenches comprising software tools, models and infrastructural services which support system design and build. The paper provides an overview of the life-cycle engineering methods conceived and developed. It introduces three separate workbenches which, via two different approaches to system build, formalise and realise a link between design models and real-world run-time systems. Each approach provides a means of enacting system models in a way which semi-automates resource-consuming implementation processes. As a result more effective and wider-scope integrated manufacturing systems can be realised for a given engineering investment. The paper also identifies key issues which need to be considered when comparing and combining the two approaches. This consideration is important in respect of classifying potential application areas for each approach and identifying problems which need to be overcome before realising their full potential