Activity-Based Modeling and Analysis of Product Engineering Processes

Abstract

Product engineering processes are subject to increasing complexity. In order to address this problem, various model-based simulation or optimization techniques have been published. However, these techniques are limited to the structure and quality of the data that they work with. In addition, modeling effort needs to be minimized, in order to efficiently support product engineering. In this contribution an approach for the activity-based analysis of product engineering processes is presented. It is intended to support modeling of complex processes with a focus on easy information acquisition. The overall suitability of the approach as well as ways to minimize modeling effort are discussed in two case studies.