Development of a Production Meta Product State Model

As products often deviate from their original design and specifications when they are produced, adjustments of the product or process are required in order to meet specifications. A prerequisite for the adjustments is appropriate and effectively collected shop floor data. The Product State Model (PSM) contains continuously updated data regarding the outcome of the production processes. The main contribution of this paper is a definition and a description of a Production Meta Product State Model’s (Production Meta PSM) structure, using the Unified Modelling Language (UML). The Meta Model incorporates a set of characteristics associated to the (1) scope or application domain of the PSM, (2) the artefact or product, and (3) the events transforming the product and trigging product state changes. Moreover, the paper provides guidelines for a specialisation of the Meta Model with respect to a particular application domain and a demonstration of the applicability of the Production Meta PSM based on a case study in a Holonic Manufacturing System environment.