Smart factory product lines: a configuration perspective on smart production ecosystems

Smart production aims to increase the flexibility of the production processes and be more efficient in the use of resources. Two important pillars of this initiative are "smart products" and "smart factories". From the perspective of product line engineering, these can be seen as two product lines (product line of factories and product line of goods) that need to be integrated for a common systems engineering approach. In this paper, we look at this problem from the perspective of configuration technologies, outline the research challenges in this area and illustrate our vision using an industrial example. The factory product line goes hand-in-hand with the product line of the products to be manufactured. Future research in product line engineering needs to consider an ecosystem of a multitude of stakeholders - e.g., factory component vendors, product designers, factory owners/operators and end-consumers.