Asset administration shell-based engineering change management process: Challenges and ways forward

Abstract

Engineering change management (ECM) is a complex process that requires extensive documentation work and dedicated communication between the parties involved. In addition, the increasing complexity of products and the various fluctuations in market conditions lead to a significant increase in the quantity of engineering changes which are reflected throughout the stages of a product's life cycle. Recent studies show the lack of standards that enable the exchange of information resulting from the interaction of the actors involved in the change process. The advancing digitalization in industrial production has led to the establishment of the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) as a concrete implementation of the digital twin concept. In this regard, the recently published standards on AAS allow it to be considered as a candidate for improving the current ECM situation. Based on this consideration, in this paper we first present the challenges of the ECM process not only through an overview of the current literature and standards, but also based on observations from experts in industrial ECM processes. Afterwards, we present the potential of AAS for solution development with regard to the challenges identified for ECM. A concrete concept for streamlining the ECM process with the help of AAS concludes this contribution.