An integrated framework for enterprise modeling

Abstract

Abstract The IDEF modeling methodology of the US Air Force's integrated computer aided manufacturing (ICAM) program is a powerful tool for analysis, specification and design of integrated manufacturing systems. IDEF consists of methods for modeling the function structure, the data needed to support the functions, and the dynamic behavior of functions of a manufacturing enterprise. The resulting function, information, and dynamics models provide three distinct but complementary views of the system being modeled. A major deficiency of IDEF is the lack of cohesion between the three views whereby a single consistent description of the system is difficult to obtain, especially when the modeled domain is large and complex. Among its other limitations are difficulty in capturing the semantics of real-world systems in the information model, and a dynamics-modeling language unsuitable for modeling flexible manufacturing systems. In this paper, we propose an integrated framework for enterprise modeling (IFEM) that extends the IDEF methodology to include methods that overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings of IDEF. The use of IFEM and its advantages over IDEF are illustrated using examples from a reference architecture developed for a computer-integrated apparel manufacturing enterprise.