TOWARDS A MANUFACTURING METAMODEL

Manufacturing involves a complex integration of materials, processes, facilities, people, information and decisions. A vast array of models have been proposed, developed, and used to support decision-making for both design and operation of manufacturing systems. Historically, how ever, manufacturing system models have been developed to answer narrow , specific questions. The consequence has been great difficulty in ass uring the consistency of decisions reached based on different models o f the same manufacturing system. In this paper, we propose a first ste p toward developing a comprehensive model of manufacturing systems, or a metamodel. A metamodel would provide tremendous benefits in applica tion by assuring the consistency of the data and data-based assumption s driving the variety of models that already exist. We propose a metam odel, discuss its application in the context of designing manufacturin g systems supported by automated guided vehicles, and present a case s tudy based on a real implementation of the metamodel.