Model-Based Systems Engineering for Learning Factories

Industry 4.0 is steadily being implemented, and factories and universities are demanding more resources to advance from manual production to the application of new technologies. The interconnection between system functions and its technical components used to be direct within traditional production lines. Nowadays, one function is distributed over many physical elements, and one component might execute more than one function within Industry 4.0 technologies, changing the relationship of clear structures between the system functions and its technical components. There is a need for novel instruments to support technologies’ assessment. Therefore, several countries have been investing in Industry 4.0 technology demonstrators. Learning Factories may be considered a type of demonstrator with a primary focus on education and extended application in research and innovation projects. As soon as Industry 4.0 increases complexity, Learning Factories also increase complexity. ModelBased Systems Engineering (MBSE) has emerged as a promising methodology to support system developers in handling complexity. This work aims to conceive, implement, and apply the MBSE approach for one Learning Factory and elucidate system paradigms through a formalized, centric, single source of truth as a core form of description for change management. This MBSE approach incorporates a link between relevant system parameters and domain-specific models.