Model-driven logistics engineering - challenges of model and object transformation

Production and logistics systems are part of a complex world with global sourcing and sales. In order to run production and logistics systems efficiently, plenty of different IT systems are needed. Thereby, production and logistics processes have to pass different systems with different purposes. In order to plan, control and coordinate such processes accurately, conceptual modeling techniques are needed, which overcome the gap between different domains and purposes as well as design and operational levels. Two main approaches of model-driven engineering (MDE) are suitable to face these problems; domain specific modeling languages (DSML) and model transformation methods. This paper develops the concept of model-driven logistics engineering by analyzing the domains of production and logistics. The objective is to identify characteristics of their inherent object transformation and to present aspects of model transformation. At least, the essentials of model-driven logistics engineering are defined and promising approaches of the field of model-driven engineering are presented. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.