Title: State-based representation of a product's middle of life

Authors: Thorsten Wuest; Ulrich Misael Ngassa Nana

Addresses: Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, West Virginia University, 347 Engineering Sciences Building (ESB), Morgantown, WV 26506-6070, USA ' Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles GmbH, Rheinmetall Office, North Africa; Rheinmetall Office North Africa/Rheinmetall Defence, Henschelplatz 1, 34127 Kassel, Germany

Abstract: To stay competitive in today's market, it is necessary for companies to look beyond the sole design, manufacturing and sales of products. This highlights the increasing focus on the middle of life (MOL) and the need for new frameworks and tools to manage that lifecycle phase. This work investigates the potential application and benefits of the state-based analysis during the usage phase (MOL). Before applying the manufacturing focused state-based analysis in the usage phase, a comparison between manufacturing and usage/maintenance operations was conducted. Based on these findings, the state-based analysis approach was adapted to fit the MOL requirements. One proposal from this adaptation is an advanced bill of materials, incorporating relevant state characteristics of the different parts additional to the already represented information. The evaluation results indicate was found that the use of a state-based analysis contributes to transparency and control of state transformations during a product's use/maintenance (MOL).

Keywords: product state; PLM; product lifecycle management; smart manufacturing; product usage; product maintenance; middle of life products; beginning of life products; bill of materials; advanced BOM; Industrie 4.0; product service systems; PSS; IPSS; internet of things; IoT; state-based analysis; transparency; state transformations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2016.079767

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2016 Vol.9 No.2, pp.108 - 138

Received: 12 Mar 2016
Accepted: 02 Aug 2016
Published online: 13 Oct 2016 *

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