ZOPH – A Systemic Approach to the Modeling of Product Development Systems

In this paper, a comprehensive systems modeling approach is introduced, that is intended to embrace, structure, model, and interrelate information that is considered to be essential for product development systems. In order to achieve an integrated development of products, processes, organizations, and goals, the use of the ZOPH method is proposed. It applies one consistent modeling language to the entire development system (and its environment). Therefore, the resulting ZOPH‐Model supports an easy generation and handling of interfaces and interrelationships, which is crucial for the successful management of increasingly complex systems.