Modularization involves separating system functionality into individual modular units, which must subsequently be associated again using suitable methods. This results in the desired flexibility and adaptability of future production systems. In this context, two association mechanisms are distinguished - orchestration and choreography. While orchestration approaches are well established in many automation applications, choreography is a rather new method for associating automation functions. When evaluating choreographies in the process industry, it has become apparent that not all subsystems participating in a choreography may be choreography-enabled. Thus, this contribution presents an extension of the already published choreography pattern for industrial automation including orchestration capabilities into a choreography. In this way, also non-choreography-enabled subsystems can participate in a choreography. This opens up a further degree of freedom and thus increases the flexibility and adaptability of production systems.

This paper examines the coordination of physically linked packaging lines based on so-called Automation Service Choreographies. For this purpose, an exemplary packaging line is considered, which is automated in a service-based manner according to the Module Type Package (MTP) concept. To coordinate the modules of this line, they exchange relevant system variables by means of direct module-to-module communication. Each module additionally contains module-internal rules that describe how its behavior depends on the incoming information. It is shown that in this way a distributed coordination of the packaging line can be achieved. In addition, a second interface is presented, by which the packaging line as a whole can be integrated into a higher-level system.

Critical infrastructure systems are usually widely distributed and integrated into a central control system. The connection is established using telecontrol protocols. Today, the integration of so-called remote terminal units is mostly done manually or partially automated. However, there is still potential and demand for optimizing these integration processes. With the help of the Module Type Package, the integration can be implemented completely automatically. For this purpose, this contribution introduces a model extension of the MTP CommunicationSet for the description of the IEC 60870-5-104 telecontrol protocol. Thus, the Module Type Package concept can be used for the integration of remote terminal units.

Service-oriented automation systems play a key role in the context of modular production systems. Modular production systems can be build up from Process Equipment Assemblies (PEAs). PEA-spanning Automation Service Associations are able to increase the degree of adaptability in modular production systems. Their former implementation using central orchestration was subject to some limiting constraints. In this contribution, a choreography-based mechanism for Automation Service Association is presented, that represents a serious alternative to the central orchestration. The presented mechanism for Automation Service Choreographies consists of three software patterns which can be used in combination to meet the identified requirements. The software patterns as well as first implementation experiences with programmable logic controllers are presented.

The service business for industrial plants poses challenges, which require the use of appropriate service information systems. In order to support the user in an optimal way during service execution the system developer needs to know these challenges to determine and prioritize requirements and thus to plan innovation of the product systematically. This article introduces a generic service information system architecture which allows the mapping of challenges in industrial service business to specific components of industrial service information systems. The evaluation of information systems regarding the support they offer in industrial service business is thereby objectified significantly, which can help system suppliers to identify future requirements and potential for innovation.

The complexity of automation systems increases steadily. Modeling is widely seen as important lever to cope with the complexity in development. Abstract models are used for analysis and representation of complex interrelations as it is possible to concentrate on the essential aspects. As most models are used for analysis and documentation within only one single development step, the information accumulated in them has to be manually reentered in the subsequent development steps. In this paper a concept for model-to-model transformations embedded in a model-driven development process is presented allowing to generate source code and circuit diagrams automatically from abstract models. This leads to an improvement of the efficiency in development of the automation system and avoids errors due to inconsistent development artifacts.