wilamowski-b-m-irwin-j-d-industrial-communication-systems-2011

65-2 Industrial Communication Systems
Previous methods for information-based production engineering methods such as client/server,
blackboard methods, etc., have not addressed the multisite distributed production development environment
with changing final assembly locations and how to manage such development efficiently. They,
among other things, require (1) the site from which the data is entered is relatively fixed, (2) the production
team members are collocated sufficiently to be able to communicate face to face to resolve issues
and have a similar understanding of the underlying terminology and concepts and relationships within
the domain, and (3) the production team members are sufficiently computer literate in the software
systems deployed. The following scenarios demonstrate the need for a multisite distributed product
development methodology:
• As the development project proceeds through the specification, design, and implementation
phases, the project and contract developer who produced the project, buildings, and works specification
and proposal for solution may be physically far removed from the design and component
manufacturing teams, on either a regional or international basis. This physical distance could
become a crucial issue if the specifications are not complete, are ambiguous, or are continually
evolving.
• When the development is decomposed based on specialization, each implementation group could
reside at different sites. The different components have to be integrated, and differences in the
interpretation of specifications can lead to incompatible components.
• Since such development often uses a component-based approach, components may be developed
by multiple remote teams, and the integration team who assemble the final product will be at a
remote site; although working on the same product, different expert groups have different terminologies
and often find it hard to overcome communication difficulties. This is exacerbated by the
fact that the domain experts will use somewhat different terminology to the developers.
• Quality assurors and/or human factor evaluators involved in large project development, quality
measurement, component-based testing, standards procedures auditing, user acceptance and
usability evaluation may be located at sites remote to the designers and manufacturers of the customized
component developers. Usability is best performed with a group of people who resemble
the target users (e.g., employees of the company for whom the development is carried out).
• A recent trend for large project contracts is for the project managers or project directors to be in
one place, and the team leaders and development teams to be spread across several countries or
cities. It is crucial that smooth communication can take place to allow the project managers to
monitor the progress and quality of production, so that the whole project can be delivered on time
and within budget.
• The clients and the developers may also not be from the same region or city or the same country.
This could arise from the organization not being able to identify the best quality team in the local
area, or the system contract being let through a tender process. The challenge is to get the right
model of development, specification, and solution and to ensure the end product meets the
customer’s needs.
The need for this multisite production is therefore of considerable significance. However, most of
the production engineering process models that are in existence assume a centralized approach to
development. As shown in the above examples, there are many situations where such an assumption is
inappropriate. This assumption is also present in many of the current production engineering methodologies,
which do not address multisite production. Most project management approaches do not
consider multisite production. Finally, we see that many technologies have not yet become mature to
facilitate multisite production. Those process models, methodologies, technologies, and approaches
cannot be followed linearly for a multisite situation. Therefore, it is important to identify the key issues
and solutions that are the subject of this chapter, which moves away from this “central” assumption to
allow for different parts of the development team to be at physically different sites.
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC