MODELING OF INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS USING AN OBJECT-ORIENTED APPROACH

Traditional approaches to the modeling of complex manufacturing systems are expensive, time consuming, and of limited value. Recent developments in several areas (i.e., knowledge engineering, software engineering, modeling formalisms, engineering workstations, and database systems) are now to the point that a meaningful convergence can be crafted to yield a modeling environment far superior to any we have known in the past. Fundamental to this new approach to modeling are the recent developments in object-oriented programming and related technologies. A research team at Oklahoma State University has been exploring alternative approaches to the modeling and simulation of complex manufacturing systems since 1985. This paper argues for a fundamental paradigm shift in the development and utilization of models within a CEM framework.