Combining Statecharts and Collaboration Diagrams for the Development of Production Control Systems

Abstract

Todays manufacturing industry faces big challenges. The market demands a very flexible production process which adjusts quickly to e.g. changing characteristics of the produced goods or different lot sizes and which tries to minimize production costs as much possible. In order to meet these challenges todays production control systems become more and more decentralized [GBFG96]. The building blocks of such a production control system are different, selfacting and computer controlled resources like e.g. switches, shuttles, machines or robots.