Abstract:
Modern manufacturing systems are growing in scale and complexity and increasingly require integrated predictive modelling and optimization methodologies to support routine decision making processes. The engineering of a free open source simulation modelling platform is the basis of the DREAM project, a Framework Programme 7 initiative co-funded by the European Commission. This paper reports on the capture of requirements for DREAM from four industrial end-users. These industrial end-users' requirements and accompanying pilot cases drive the research, technology and development work in the project. The users vary in size from micro-SME to multi-national and global organizations and by industry; from semi-conductor manufacturing, medical device design and manufacture to industrial machine manufacture and preprocess/prototype manufacturers. To capture requirements from the organizations a methodology was developed which is reported on in the paper. Its outcomes provide the basis for the subsequent open-source software development. In particular, the work assessed the various partner needs in the pre-coding, simulation application development, simulation application use and data-analytics areas which cover the end-to-end usage of a simulation based decision support system (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.