Process modeling for smart factories: using science mapping to understand the strategic themes, main challenges and future trends
04 Mar 2021-Business Process Management Journal (Emerald Publishing Limited)-Vol. 27, Iss: 5, pp 1391-1417
TL;DR: The results show that the Business Process Model and Notation, Unified Modelling Language (UML) and Petri Net are the most relevant languages to smart manufacturing.
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationships between process modeling and Industry 4.0, the strategic themes and the most used process modeling language in smart factories. The study also presents the growth of the field of study worldwide, the perspectives, main challenges, trends and suggestions for future works. Design/methodology/approach: To do this, a science mapping was performed using the software SciMAT, supported by VOS viewer. Findings: The results show that the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), Unified Modelling Language (UML) and Petri Net are the most relevant languages to smart manufacturing. The authors also highlighted the need to develop new languages or extensions capable of representing the dynamism, interoperability and multiple technologies of smart factories. Originality/value: It was possible to identify the most used process modeling languages in smart environments and understand how these languages assist control and manage smart processes. Besides, the authors highlighted challenges, new perspectives and the need for future works in the field.
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: A framework for devising process querying methods for the (automated) management of repositories of designed and executed processes, as well as models that describe relationships between processes is proposed.
Abstract: Highlights - A framework for designing process querying methods is proposed
- The framework is positioned for broader Process Analytics and Business Intelligence
- The framework is grounded in use cases from the Business Process Management field
- The framework is informed by and validated via a systematic literature review
- The framework structures the state of the art and points to gaps in existing research
Abstract
The volume of process-related data is growing rapidly: more and more business operations are being supported and monitored by information systems. Industry 4.0 and the corresponding industrial Internet of Things are about to generate new waves of process-related data, next to the abundance of event data already present in enterprise systems. However, organizations often fail to convert such data into strategic and tactical intelligence. This is due to the lack of dedicated technologies that are tailored to effectively manage the information on processes encoded in process models and process execution records. Process-related information is a core organizational asset which requires dedicated analytics to unlock its full potential. This paper proposes a framework for devising process querying methods, i.e., techniques for the (automated) management of repositories of designed and executed processes, as well as models that describe relationships between processes. The framework is composed of generic components that can be configured to create a range of process querying methods. The motivation for the framework stems from use cases in the field of Business Process Management. The design of the framework is informed by and validated via a systematic literature review. The framework structures the state of the art and points to gaps in existing research. Process querying methods need to address these gaps to better support strategic decision-making and provide the next generation of Business Intelligence platforms.
65 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed 585 BPMN 2.0 process models from six companies and found that split and join representations, message flow, the lack of proper model decomposition, and labeling related to quality issues.
Abstract: Many organizations use business process models to document business operations and formalize business requirements in software-engineering projects. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), a specification by the Object Management Group, has evolved into the leading standard for process modeling. One challenge is BPMN's complexity: it offers a huge variety of elements and often several representational choices for the same semantics. This raises the question of how well modelers can deal with these choices. Empirical insights into BPMN use from the practitioners' perspective are still missing. To close this gap, researchers analyzed 585 BPMN 2.0 process models from six companies. They found that split and join representations, message flow, the lack of proper model decomposition, and labeling related to quality issues. They give five specific recommendations on how to avoid these issues.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a scientific mapping of the adoption of precision techniques and breakthrough technologies in agriculture, so-called digital agriculture, using 4694 documents from the Web of Science database to perform a Bibliometric Performance and Network Analysis of the literature using SciMAT software.
Abstract: The agriculture sector is one of the backbones of many countries’ economies. Its processes have been changing to enable technology adoption to increase productivity, quality, and sustainable development. In this research, we present a scientific mapping of the adoption of precision techniques and breakthrough technologies in agriculture, so-called Digital Agriculture. To do this, we used 4694 documents from the Web of Science database to perform a Bibliometric Performance and Network Analysis of the literature using SciMAT software with the support of the PICOC protocol. Our findings presented 22 strategic themes related to Digital Agriculture, such as Internet of Things (IoT), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Climate-smart Agriculture (CSA), among others. The thematic network structure of the nine most important clusters (motor themes) was presented and an in-depth discussion was performed. The thematic evolution map provides a broad perspective of how the field has evolved over time from 1994 to 2020. In addition, our results discuss the main challenges and opportunities for research and practice in the field of study. Our findings provide a comprehensive overview of the main themes related to Digital Agriculture. These results show the main subjects analyzed on this topic and provide a basis for insights for future research.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors conducted a Bibliometric Performance and Network Analysis (BPNA), supplemented by an exhaustive Systematic Literature Review (SLR), which revealed key challenges and limitations associated with the IoT.
10 citations
01 Oct 2021
TL;DR: This paper analyzes production process modeling domain and presents a DSML which can be used to create production process models suitable for automatic generation of executable code, used for automatic execution of production processes within a simulation or a shop floor.
Abstract: The fourth industrial revolution introduces changes in traditional manufacturing systems and creates basis for a lot-size-one production. The complexity of production processes is significantly increased, alongside the need to enable efficient process simulation, execution, monitoring, real-time decision making and control. The main goal of our research is to define a methodological approach and a software solution in which the Model-Driven (MD) principles and Domain-Specific Modeling Languages (DSMLs) are used to create a framework for the formal description and automatic execution of production processes. In that way production process models are used as central artifacts to manage the production. In this paper, we analyze production process modeling domain and present a DSML which can be used to create production process models suitable for automatic generation of executable code. The generated code is used for automatic execution of production processes within a simulation or a shop floor. The language can be used to specify errors that may occur during the process execution and to specify error handling and corrective steps, too. The DSML is evaluated by different groups of users and the evaluation results are presented. Both the DSML and the accompanying modeling tool are still in the prototype phase, as they are created and evaluated in use cases covering just the assembly of goods. To enable wider application of the language and the tool, it is required to have additional use cases from different manufacturing domains.
9 citations
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