Process Planning in Special Machinery: Increasing Reliability in Volatile Surroundings

In Germany the growing demand for customized systems and integrated solutions in machinery enhance the importance of special machinery. Within this industry, the commissioning process represents a significant part in the product engineering process and forms the base for reliability and performance during future operation. However, there is little research focusing on this process for special machinery. In particular, there has been little discussion on methods to evaluate alternative test processes or arranging test processes along the commissioning process. Therefore, this paper develops an application-oriented simulation tool that allows an evaluation of test alternatives and an arrangement of test processes during the commissioning process in special machinery. The authors decided to use Bayesian Networks to model the commissioning process as they enable the connectivity of multiple modules and integrate the stochastic dependencies along the processes. In addition the paper reveals two concepts to deal with unknown processes and the lack of data. Applying the simulation tool in a laser system manufacturer reveals that the simulation tool allows an evaluation as well as the identification of risks and need for countermeasures.