Using Context-aware Workflows for Failure Management in a Smart Factory

In factories many processes are executed in parallel. The manufacturing processes are managed by Manufacturing Execution Systems. In the case of machine failures these systems provide only rudimentary or no support to the workers or shop-floor managers. As a consequence the failures have to be fixed as fast as possible for being able to continue manufacturing processes. For such cases context-aware workflows can be used to support the workers and to coordinate the work that has to be done for repairing purposes. In the Nexus Project we introduced the concept of context-aware workflows and context integration processes to be able to implement all kinds of processes going on in a smart environment. As a case study we modeled a failure management process as a workflow and executed it in a factory. Furthermore, we show the concepts behind this kind of workflows: the context integration processes and the context-aware human tasks. Finally, end user applications for the interaction of the workers with the workflow are presented. For that we developed an application concept providing a mobile solution for workers and a web-based solution for an office environment. The main contribution of this paper is to show how to implement such a failure management process as a context-aware workflow.