Since products are rarely manufactured within one factory, it is necessary to exchange (sub-)product specifications throughout the production network. And since product updates are occurring more frequently, it is necessary to manage the efficient exchange of the related changes.
Autonomous systems are able to act without control by master systems. For production systems that would mean that they make decisions on their own, e.g. to schedule production tasks, optimise process parameters, accept orders, etc.
Product individualisation, outsourcing, increasing product complexity, growing IT-systems, etc. result in an overall increasing complexity of production systems which has to be managed.
The overall potential of multi-site manufacturing SoS can only be exploited by introducing intelligence into manufacturing systems by means of appropriate IT systems.
In order to be able to manage flexible production which should response automatically to product needs, it is necessary to integrate the management of equipment capabilities and the related product features.
Close cooperation in, advanced process control etc. throughout production networks require considerable information exchange among factories. For this reason, systems have to be integrated with each other, with platforms, etc.
There are two kinds of business models which may support the establishment of SoS. One of them is the realisation of superior values, e.g. by means of providing additional information about products to customers, etc.
The other one is the provision of additional services, e.g. the hosting of platforms, provision of additional IT services for tracking, process control, etc. via such a platform, etc.
A completely integrated digital factory environment for the whole multi-site manufacturing SoS would enable and accelerate the joint planning of new products, optimization of production, and herewith to increase competitiveness of the SoS, also be reducing costs or development effort.
SoA enable the flexible integration of functional components such as for process control, in order to adapt the overal SoS system to the needs of the specific production network.
Optimisation of manufacturing environments first requires information about where is potential for optimisatons. For this reason, it is necessary to monitor the overall production network / SoS and to assess its performance.
Companies will not participate in multi-site production SoS as long as they have doubts about the protection of their IPR, security, and privacy.
In order to overcome doubts about SoS in manufacturing, it is essential to educate the stakeholders, i.e. to explain why doubts are not necessary.
For acceptance of IT-tools in manufacturing environements / by workers, it is important to enable intuitive usage of the systems. As an optimum, the complexity of the systems behind is not visible to the user.
Products are demanded by customers with an increasing level of individualisation options. As an extreme, this could end up in self-engineering-to-order solutions for consumer goods.
This is the main economic driver in the production domain from which all others can be derived. The overall objective is to save costs or to increase competitiveness which both can be achieved by this.
Factories should become faster and more flexible (with regard to production times, products to be manufactured, etc.) in order to faster react on changing market demands (increase competitiveness).
Product individualisation, outsourcing, increasing product complexity, growing IT-systems, etc. result in an overall increasing complexity of production systems which has to be managed.
Factories (especially SMEs) should easily be able to join production networks in order to be able to quickly react on market demand changes, to extend the market opportunities, etc. However, nowadays this is often very restricted since business process and IT interface integration causes huge efforts.
In order to overcome doubts about SoS in manufacturing, it is essential to educate the stakeholders, i.e. to explain why doubts are not necessary.
IP has to be clarified, e.g. by means of general terms and conditions for a certain multi-site production SoS, by contract templates, etc. in order to address the doubts which many manufacturing companies have.
There are two kinds of business models which may support the establishment of SoS. One of them is the realisation of superior values, e.g. by means of providing additional information about products to customers, etc.
The other one is the provision of additional services, e.g. the hosting of platforms, provision of additional IT services for tracking, process control, etc. via such a platform, etc.
In order to enable close cooperation of production network participants (e.g. in terms of process control, product tracking, order forecasting, ...) , the integration of their IT systems is necessary. Nowadays, this is possible but often causes huge integration implementation efforts which should be reduced.
In order to establish manufacturing SoS, the related standards have to be defined. But to make participation even more secure and efficient, certification of companies which fulfil those standards would be useful.
When introducing new concepts, tools, etc. to manufacturing companies, one of the first questions asked is mostly "where can I see a prototype / demonstration of this system?" or similar questions. For this reason, it is necessary to implement reference implementations which also can help to explain the SoS concepts in general (support education).
Existing standards (e.g. EDI-based) have to be harmonised since they are established mainly for certain industry branches, etc. Besides this, they have to be extended from business to manufacturing level for the exchange of additional information, e.g. in order to enable inter-factory process control.
Tools which, by means of simulation, recognise reasons, e.g. for process quality deviations or too high lead times, automatically and autonomously re-parameterise the concerned equipment.
Optimisation of manufacturing environments first requires information about where is potential for optimisatons. For this reason, it is necessary to monitor the overall production network / SoS and to assess its performance.
Fast-changing markets require fast-changing factories, i.e. manufacturing equipment which can easily be adapted to e.g. updated product designs.
Beyond STEP for certain industries, the transfer of product specifications from design to manufacturing, but also the feedback about manufacturability from production to design is lacking. Tools which overcome this gap would be appreciated.