Lifecycle Management Framework Research Articles

Digital twins in product-service lifecycles: a framework proposal for enhancing competitiveness and sustainability in manufacturing business

ABSTRACT Manufacturing companies have shifted their interest toward comprehensive solutions and novel digital technologies. These technologies, such as digital twins (DTs), have enabled new business opportunities for various actors throughout product and service lifecycles, from initial drafts to disposal or reuse. However, the concreteness of these opportunities in terms of competitiveness and sustainable business still requires further study. Thus, this article examines the possibilities of data-based business and DT-enabled solutions in the manufacturing business along all stages of product-service lifecycles. The research method of this study was qualitative; it included semi-structured thematic interviews with manufacturing industry professionals. The study obtained extensive results: DT-based lifecycle solutions can provide competitiveness and sustainable value in several ways by contributing from design to usage optimization and renewal of solutions. The study also helps to understand the potential of the end of a lifecycle, as it encourages companies to assess the value of the data-based business and DT-enabled solutions throughout the entire lifecycle of a product. As a main contribution, the results inspired an updated product – service lifecycle management framework. Manufacturing companies can use this study to evaluate and recognize new business opportunities and to find ways to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of their operations.

A privacy-preserving attribute-based framework for IoT identity lifecycle management

The Internet of Things (IoT) has brought a new era of interconnected devices and seamless data exchange. As the IoT ecosystem continues to expand, there is an increasing need for effective identity management mechanisms, specifically for authorization processes and access control. The pervasiveness of such devices demands that desirable solutions tackle not only security properties but also privacy aspects like granular control over which identity data is shared in authentication/authorization processes, covering aspects like bootstrapping, enrolment, and service provision. In this context, it is natural to turn to privacy-enhancing technologies, like (privacy-preserving) Attribute-Based Credentials (p-ABC), for achieving both high security and privacy guarantees. Nonetheless, these technical tools need to be accompanied by a comprehensive approach that deals with the particularities of IoT scenarios and covers the full lifetime of the device. In this work, we propose the use of a p-ABC scheme with support for distributed issuance (dp-ABC) as a keystone for privacy-preserving attribute-based authentication and authorization in IoT scenarios. We integrate said cryptographic scheme with W3C’s Verifiable Credentials standard, evaluating its impact to gauge its feasibility. The integration facilitates adoption and, particularly, allows the solution to transparently coexist with simpler techniques in heterogeneous scenarios that demand them. Moreover, we define and analyse a generic and comprehensive framework for identity management that identifies challenges throughout the device’s lifetime to achieve IoT privacy-preserving identity management following self-sovereign principles. We show how the various aspects identified in the framework are tackled in a concrete instantiation as part of the H2020 project ERATOSTHENES.

Entropy-based framework for optimal life-cycle management of multiple fatigue cracks in ship structures

Cyclic loading of ship structures can result in multiple cracks at fatigue-prone details. While these cracks are generally considered a nuisance, they can result in catastrophic failure if left unrepaired. On the other hand, periodic inspection and repair of these cracks can result in a large financial burden. Accordingly, careful scheduling of inspection and repair of the cracks is needed to avoid catastrophic failures while ensuring low cost. Life-cycle analysis offers a reasonable means to establish cost-effective scheduling of maintenance and repair strategies for civil and marine infrastructure. Studies exist on life-cycle cost frameworks for the assessment and repair of multiple fatigue cracks utilizing non-linear optimization strategies. In this study, we establish a new probabilistic life-cycle cost framework that improves on existing approaches by utilizing the concept of entropy to determine optimal inspection and repair scheduling for ship structures with multiple cracks. The parameters influencing the propagation rate of the cracks are considered random variables with predefined statistical distributions. A parametric study is conducted to assess the impact of some parameters, such as design life and loading cycles on the obtained life-cycle cost. The results show stark improvement in achieving optimal scheduling of inspection and repair with low cost over traditional optimizations.

A digital life-cycle management framework for sustainable smart manufacturing in energy intensive industries

Energy intensive industries can be classified into those that process metal, glass, ceramics, paper, cement, and bulk chemicals. They are associated with significantly high proportions of carbon emissions, consume a lot of energy and raw materials, and cause energy wastage as a result of heat escaping from furnaces, reheating of products, and rejection of parts. In alignment with UN sustainable development goals of industry, innovation, infrastructure and responsible consumption and production, it is important to ensure that the energy consumption of EIIs are monitored and reduced such that their energy efficiency can be improved. Towards this aim, it is possible to employ the concepts of digitalisation and smart manufacturing to identify the critical areas of improvement and establish enablers that can help improve the energy efficiency. The aim of this research is to review the current state of digitalisation in energy-intensive industries and propose a framework to support the realisation of sustainable smart manufacturing in Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs). The key objectives of the work are (i) the investigation of process mining and simulation modelling to support sustainability, (ii) embedding intelligence in EIIs to improve energy and material efficiency and (iii) proposing a framework to enable the digital transformation of EIIs. The proposed five-layer framework employs data acquisition, process management, simulation & modelling, artificial intelligence, and data visualisation to identify and forecast energy consumption. A detailed description of the various phases of the framework and how they can be used to support sustainability and smart manufacturing is demonstrated using business process data obtained from a machining industry. In the demonstrated case study, the process management layer utilises Disco for process mining, the simulation layer utilises Matlab SimEvent for discrete-event simulation, the artificial intelligence layer utilises Matlab for energy prediction and the visualisation layer utilises grafana to dashboard the e-KPIs. The findings of the research indicate that the proposed digital life-cyle framework helps EIIs realise sustainable smart manufacturing through better understanding of the energy-intensive processes. The study also provided a better understanding of the integration of process mining and simulation & modelling within the context of EIIs.

Digital twin and its potential applications in construction industry: State-of-art review and a conceptual framework

Through the combination of virtual and real, multi-dimensional perception, and accurate mapping, digital twin (DT) could describe the physical world in real-time and provide a theoretical basis for simulation, prediction, control, etc. In recent years, DT has been used in many sectors including the construction industry. From the needs of the construction industry, DT could help the technological progress of construction's whole life cycle. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current development of construction industry and DT, following by proposing a conceptual framework for DT-enabled construction lifecycle management. Firstly, by analysing the research status of each phase in the construction lifecycle, the challenges facing the construction lifecycle are summarized. Then, the characteristics and challenges of DT were summarized based on its origins, concepts and applications. A “3 + 1”D DT-enabled construction lifecycle management framework was proposed after reviewing the construction industry and DT. Then, the challenges and opportunities in using the framework are discussed. This research helps understand the challenges and great potential of applying DT in the construction lifecycle.

MBSE Model Management Pain Points – Wait, this looks familiar!

AbstractIt has been almost 20 years since INCOSE and the OMG kicked off an effort to create a standardized model‐based systems engineering modeling language. That effort culminated in 2006 with the creation of the Systems Modeling language (SysML). Over the past several years, numerous industries have increased their adoption of SysML and MBSE as a core practice within their engineering lifecycles. However, they have not achieved many of the originally envisioned benefits. On closer inspection, many of the challenges and barriers with which MBSE practitioners are currently struggling are remarkably similar to the problems seen in large DoD software programs from the 1970s and 80s and were resolved decades ago by the software development community regarding scale and complexity. System models are becoming larger and more complex. Yet, in this expanding and maturing MBSE environment, projects continue to experience problems with model integration, repository performance and model lifecycle management. It is time to go back and take another look at how the software community attacked problems of extreme scale.The similarity between MBSE's model management pain points and those experienced years ago by the software industry is not unexpected. Adoption of MBSE requires the replacement of the largely manual, document‐based engineering processes with a complex engineering information processing system. Unlike documents, the models produced by that system are living artifacts that require management over the project lifecycle and which have all the characteristics and complexity of software.This paper presents a framework for MBSE planning and model lifecycle management based on the key practices from Systems Engineering and Software Engineering to provide an actionable set of best practices that can be applied today to address current MBSE lifecycle management issues. We have organized these best practices around three key MBSE Model Management Imperatives.

Agile: A high-scalable and low-jitter flow tables lifecycle management framework for multi-core programmable data plane

In software-defined networking (SDN), the common flow table updates have constrained its performance. The current southbound protocol determines neither the priority nor the method of flow table update, which could result in latency-sensitive applications not being served timely. Moreover, such kind of update process causes severe jitters in the data plane. In this case, this paper presents Agile as a solution. Agile is a lifecycle management framework for flow tables based on software programmable data plane. It introduces a scheduling architecture to allow the controller to freely configure the flow table update method and determine the update priority, minimizing the impact on forwarding. Moreover, an aging scheme is also designed to maintain the consistency of multi-core platforms. Agile implements with the extent of southbound interface. Extensive experimental results show that Agile can reduce the average forwarding jitter brought about by flow table updates to 2.2 μs and save the update time by 56.9%.

A Framework for Life Cycle Management of Road Pavements in Europe

Sustainability Assessment (SA) is a standardized practice that is rapidly taking up also in the building sector; however, the transport infrastructure sector is still questioning the best way forward to implement it as a regular practice. This work tries to fill this gap by providing a summary of the PavementLCM package, a comprehensive instrument developed for European National Road Authorities (NRAs). The aim of the package is engineering sustainability for road pavement management by including SA, Life Cycle Management (LCM) and circular economy practices while complying with the most recent European standards for the “Sustainability Assessment of Construction Works” (EN 15643, EN 15978 and EN 15804). As a result, the research delivers specific Guidelines to implement LCM as a current practice, as well as suggestions concerning circular economy and durability assessment.

Comprehensive Framework and Roadmap for Life-Cycle Management of High-Friction Surface Treatments

High-friction surface treatments (HFSTs) are increasingly being applied at critical roadway locations (such as horizontal curves) that have high friction demand and a history of wet crashes; well-constructed HFST on sound underlying pavements has generally provided durable high friction. However, HFST friction loss because of aggregate loss or other distresses is a serious safety concern. HFST installation and management, especially its safe application and operation, involves different life-cycle activities (site selection and planning, construction, performance monitoring, maintenance, and replacement). These life-cycle activities involve complex and challenging technical components (including site selection criteria, construction quality control, performance measures, maintenance trigger criteria, etc.). To effectively manage the complex and challenging components of HFST and to mitigate safety concerns, this paper (a) studied the current challenges and identified the technical and management needs for safely managing HFST pavements based on a literature review, a national survey, and interviews with experts, (b) developed a comprehensive technical and managerial integrated framework to manage network-level safety throughout HFST’s life-cycle activities by synthesizing the core contents of the identified needs, and (c) proposed a roadmap containing research, development, and deployment actions needed for enhancing HFST management practices. The developed comprehensive framework enables researchers and Departments of Transportation to holistically see the different components of HFST life-cycle activities so that HFST can be managed systematically and cost-effectively while ensuring safety. This framework can also be used as a checklist of items for transportation agencies to follow to ensure high-quality and effective HFST installation and management.

Policy Considerations When Using Tax Incentives for Foreign Investment

Many countries are facing two potentially conflicting policy priorities – supporting economic recovery and rebuilding policy space – in the post-pandemic period. Strong investment is essential to boosting the recovery momentum, but generous fiscal incentives to attract FDI could hamper the government’s efforts to rebuild fiscal policy space. Meanwhile, ongoing discussions on global tax reforms will force the authorities to revisit their tax incentive system. In this context, this article reviews the literature on tax incentives and proposes key elements for the efficient and effective use of tax incentives for FDI. The proposed elements are grouped into three pillars: design, management, and governance. Designing the tax incentives should be based on a comprehensive FDI strategy, suitable instruments and clearly defined eligibility criteria for FDI in strategically targeted sectors. Well-designed tax incentives should be implemented transparently under a life-cycle management framework with cost-benefit analysis and pre-specified sunset provisions. Good governance framework can greatly facilitate the effective and efficient design and management of tax incentives, while international cooperation can address the issues related to tax competitions and tax evasion.

Digital Twin-driven framework for fatigue lifecycle management of steel bridges

This paper presents a Digital Twin-driven framework for fatigue lifecycle management of steel bridges. A probabilistic multi-scale fatigue deterioration model is proposed to predict the entire fatigue process of steel bridges. Bayesian inference of the deterioration parameters realizes the real-time updating of the predicted lifecycle fatigue evolution process, which provides a good basis for lifecycle optimization. To avoid an empirically predefined repair crack size for maintenance, an optimization process for maintenance strategies is included. The relationship of the extended lifetime and the design repair crack size is constructed by numerical experimental design and surrogate modeling. The solution for optimum repair crack size is obtained while maximizing the extended fatigue life and minimizing the maintenance costs. Based on the occurrence time distribution of the optimum repair crack size, the inspection/monitoring planning is determined from a probabilistic optimization process based on the minimization of the expected damage detection delay and the lifecycle costs. The uncertainties associated with the damage occurrence and detection ability are considered during the formulation of the expected damage detection delay by decision tree analysis. Based on Digital Twin concept, the predicted deterioration process, derived maintenance, and inspection/monitoring planning are timely updated until a defined stopping rule is met.

Lifecycle management in government-driven open source projects – practical framework

In many parts of the world, public sector organizations are increasingly interested in collaborating across organizational (and even national) boundaries to develop software solutions under an open licence. However, without sound lifecycle management practices, the full benefits of open collaboration are not achieved and projects fail to achieve sustained success. This paper introduces a lifecycle management model and framework for government-driven open-source projects and reports about its use in a real-life case study. Our focus is on lifecycle management activities which take place between deployment and end-of-life. The framework was developed iteratively through a series of focus group discussions with representatives of public sector organizations. After the framework had been taken into use in our real-life case project, individual qualitative interviews were conducted to collect experiences on its benefits and weaknesses. According to the initial evidence, the deployment of the framework seems to have brought concrete benefits to the project, e.g. by contributing positively to community growth, software quality and inter-organizational learning.

Open product development to support circular economy through a material lifecycle management framework

Open product development to support circular economy through a material lifecycle management framework

Open product development to support circular economy through a material lifecycle management framework

Open product development to support circular economy through a material lifecycle management framework

Agile: A High-Scalable and Low-Jitter Flow Tables Lifecycle Management Framework for Multicore Programmable Data Plane

Agile: A High-Scalable and Low-Jitter Flow Tables Lifecycle Management Framework for Multicore Programmable Data Plane

A framework for managing regulatory policy life-cycle challenges: an empirical design

This paper proposes a process for developing a comprehensive policy life-cycle management (PLM) framework that institutionalises the essential elements of regulatory policy life-cycle implementation. Central banks face challenges during the life-cycle processes of regulatory policy management. The evident reasons for some of these challenges are missing significant policy quality attributes (PQAs) associated with the dynamics of multidimensional constraints that negatively impact the policies' return. This paper suggests using PQAs to formalise a systematic and comprehensive PLM framework. Thematic analysis of data collected at Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) revealed thirteen policy life-cycle challenges and identified eleven PQAs. The constructed PLM framework encompasses six phases: engineering, analysis, evaluation, execution, monitoring, and optimisation. The application of the PLM framework and its PQAs in a single case study provides insights into its potential usability and strength in improving regulatory policy implementation more broadly. The extended PLM framework's contribution is to open avenues of research and inform practice for diverse stakeholders such as regulatory authorities, policy science community engagement, and on-the ground regulatory policy initiatives.

Investigation on the Mathematical Relation Model of Structural Reliability and Structural Robustness

Structural reliability and structural robustness, from different research fields, are usually employed for the evaluative analysis of building and civil engineering structures. Structural reliability has been widely used for structural analysis and optimization design, while structural robustness is still in rapid development. Several dimensionless evaluation indexes have been defined for structural robustness so far, such as the structural reliability-based redundancy index. However, these different evaluation indexes are usually based on subjective definitions, and they are also difficult to put into engineering practice. The mathematical relational model between structural reliability and structural robustness has not been established yet. This paper is a quantitative study, focusing on the mathematical relation between structural reliability and structural robustness so as to further develop the theory of structural robustness. A strain energy evaluation index for structural robustness is introduced firstly by considering the energy principle. The mathematical relation model of structural reliability and structural robustness is then derived followed by a further comparative study on sensitivity, structural damage, and random variation factor. A cantilever beam and a truss beam are also presented as two case studies. In this study, a parabolic curve mathematical model between structural reliability and structural robustness is established. A significant variation trend for their sensitivities is also observed. The complex interaction mechanism of the joint effect of structural damage and random variation factor is also reflected. With consideration of the variation trend of the structural reliability index that is affected by different degrees of structural damage (mild impairment, moderate impairment, and severe impairment), a three-stage framework for structural life-cycle maintenance management is also proposed. This study can help us gain a better understanding of structural robustness and structural reliability. Some practical references are also provided for the better decision-making of maintenance and management departments.

Verification and Validation of Computational Models Used in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing: Potential Application of the ASME Verification and Validation 40 Standard and FDA Proposed AI/ML Model Life Cycle Management Framework.

A wide variety of computational models covering statistical, mechanistic, and machine learning (locked and adaptive) methods are explored for use in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Limited discussion exists on how to establish the credibility of a computational model for application in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. In this work, we tried to use the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Verification and Validation 40 (V&V 40) standard and FDA proposed AI/ML model life cycle management framework for Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) in biopharmaceutical manufacturing use cases, by applying to a set of curated hypothetical examples. We discussed the need for standardized frameworks to facilitate consistent decision making to enable efficient adoption of computational models in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and alignment of existing good practices with existing frameworks. In the study of our examples, we anticipate existing frameworks like V&V 40 can be adopted.

A design of cloud computing resource lifecycle management framework based on micro-services

With the popularization and improvement of cloud computing, there are many problems in the life cycle management of cloud computing, such as the dispersion of interaction and the inconsistency of data, which lead to the difficulties of system maintenance and upgrade, and the problems of data independence. In this paper, we analyze the functions in the life cycle of cloud computing resources. The ontology based semantic theory is used to integrate heterogeneous data among modules. Micro-service architecture is used to control all modules.

Research on BOM multi-view mapping method orient to aircraft in-service data management

In order to establish the framework for aircraft life-cycle data management and ensure the efficient implementation of maintenance information management of in-service aircraft, the characteristics of maintenance information management of civil aircraft in service were analyzed. BOM views were classified, and a BOM multi-view model was constructed. By analyzing the main mapping forms of BOM multi-views, the node types of BOM multi-view were defined, the mapping rules of BOM multi-view model were proposed, and the mapping algorithm of BOM multi-view model was designed and implemented. Finally, method validation was performed by the BOM mapping of 48-section torsion box of a certain aircraft. The results show that, the mapping of EBOM to M-BOM is realized effectively, ensuring the full integration of the information management structure in the in-service maintenance phase and the development phase, and ensuring the consistency of the aircraft life-cycle data management framework.