Development of a system framework for the computer-integrated manufacturing execution system: a distributed object-oriented approach

Today, most of the Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are monolithic, insufficiently configurable and difficult to modify. Using a distributed object-oriented technique, we will present a systematic approach, to develop a computer-integrated MES Framework which is open, modularized, distributed, configurable, interoperable, and maintainable. We start with the system analysis by collecting domain requirements and analysing domain knowledge. Our MES Framework is designed by the process of constructing an abstract object model based on domain knowledge, partitioning the application domain into components, identifying generic parts among components, defining framework messages, and developing design patterns for generic parts. After finishing the MES Framework design, we design a variety of functional components by inheriting appropriate design patterns of the Framework. An application can then be constructed by involving corresponding methods of related components. The proposed MES Framework can be integrated and tested. The CORBA infrastructure is adopted to develop this integratable MES. We also use OLE Automation and COM objects to construct sample applications. An example is shown to demonstrate the fruit of this systematic approach.