Why Cyber-physical Production Systems Need a Descriptive Engineering Approach – A Case Study in Plug & Produce

Abstract Cyber-physical production systems’ main feature is adaptability, i.e. they adapt automatically to new situations without impairing the system's goals. An example is a smart factory that can adapt to new product variants or production systems, as a result of which, it guarantees a minimum energy consumption in any production scenario. At the heart of this is the capability to generate the automation software based on new requirements, i.e. based on the product description. Currently, two main solution philosophies exist to implement such an automatic software synthesis: 1. Compositional approaches generate the software by sticking predefined software components together. 2. Synthesis approaches generate the software from scratch based on models of the product and the production resources. We will outline and compare both solutions in-detail. Furthermore, the necessary models are described in this paper. Using examples from the field of manufacturing systems and from industrial automation, we will argue that only the second approach is suited to fulfil the promises of cyber-physical production systems.