MaSiMO
MaSiMO (Maintenance and Manufacturer Simulation Model) is a hardware simulation environment that is used to research and develop a data-centristic MRO environment. Its aim is to improve the coordination of maintenance processes between different stakeholders.
Experimental research on digital value chains to achieve efficient product life cycle management
A multi-scale hardware simulation will be used to replicate digital value chains, one of the objectives of effective product life cycle management, and investigate behavioural changes. Under true-to-life conditions, MaSiMO will be used to model the design options, derive the requirements and explore the effects of digital transformations within the context of future digital and human-centred maintenance, manufacturing and supplier production processes. MaSiMO is therefore making an important contribution to developing modern end-to-end product management, also encompassing its analysis.
What is being investigated?
All the links in the value chain will be combined to form one network that incorporates the unique perspectives of the various participants. This currently generates a heterogeneous picture composed of analogue and digital requirements. This heterogeneity will be eliminated, in both the scientific and practical sense, and solutions will be illustrated by way of a hardware-modelled process that incorporates everything from the receipt of the digital orders to delivery of the requested products to the customer. This approach should identify the strengths and weaknesses of the implemented process design, the IT architecture, the data processing, the automation applied or the human-machine interfaces over the entire value chain – both with respect to today’s and future digitally- transformed value chains. Although this sounds so plausible in theory, industrial, for the most part established, environments make for difficult testing ground, thus justifying the decision to create a hardware-based simulation model.
Over the long-term, MaSiMO should help to answer the following key questions, among others:
- How should future socio-cyber-physical systems (SCPS) be designed?
- What will future management systems look like (e.g. SCADA, MES, ERP, HMI)?
- What approach should be taken in regard to detailed process workflows in digital value chains and what significance does this have for future control systems?
- What role do digital twins play in digital value chains?