From key business factors to KPIs within a reconfigurable and flexible cyber-physical system

In a global market characterized by strong competition and quickly changing boundary conditions, flexible and reconfigurable production systems can rapidly react to both endogenous and exogenous drivers. To this extent, it is necessary to define a new production system model, which can combine the most significant key business factors (KBFs), in order to meet the specified objectives and the relevant KPIs and to control the system. The model can be used within a cyber-physical system, to properly support the different functions and take the right decisions through simulation ICT tools. This research task is part of PERFoRM (Production harmonizEd Reconfiguration of Flexible Robots and Machinery), a European funded project, which aims at developing an innovative manufacturing system based on a new agile concept introducing the implementation of methods, methodologies and strategies for transforming existing production systems into plug-and-produce production ones based on Cyber-Physical Systems technologies. In particular, this paper aims at describing the relationships among the KBFs (Key Business Factors), namely the drivers of the production system, and the relevant KPIs. The model has been validated through an industrial use case, in order to gain important information about constraints and opportunities for improvement in other contexts.