Target-oriented implementation of systems engineering in medium-sized enterprises: Project example for mbse implementation in mechanical and plant engineering

Abstract

Technical systems of tomorrow will go beyond current traditional mechatronic designs by incorporating inherent intelligence. This causes high demands on the product development process, such as the need for a comprehensive understanding of the system and consideration of the full product lifecycle. Systems engineering (SE) is an approach that has the potential to fulfill these requirements. However, until now it could not be applied in a wide range of industries and segments, especially not in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper discusses different obstacles for the use of SE and presents a concept to enable target-oriented application of model-based systems engineering methods in SMEs. The paper reveals an example for the incremental implementation of model-based systems engineering in medium-sized enterprises in mechanical and plant engineering. Based on identified action fields relevant SE approaches were derived and tailored

Mbse-Lite: A Framework for Adopting Model-Based Systems Engineering in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in South Africa

“…Owing to most SMEs' poor management skills and structure, the main hurdles to adopting the MBSE approach to systems management are the "lack of a clear organisational structure with an understanding of required conditions and management needs" (Huldt & Stenius, 2019). Secondly, businesses feel that they have made it thus far without the help of a "systems" effort and that it is "over-dimensioned" for their products (Czaja et al, 2016). Deploying MBSE has been noted to be a burdensome process that is not tailored to the needs of the SME culture, resources, skills and tools (Chapurlat & Nastov, 2020).…”

“…The challenges associated with MBSE adoption that were identified from the literature and investigated in the survey include an expensive initial investment and tool (Chami & Bruel, 2018;Czaja et al, 2016;Gregory et al, 2020;Pratt & Dabkowski, 2022), the human factor that includes training and the presence of the right expertise on MBSE undertakings (Czaja et al, 2016;Ferguson et al, 2020;Pratt & Dabkowski, 2022;Suryadevara & Tiwari, 2018), inertia in the enterprise that stems from existing legacy methods and norms (Czaja et al, 2016;Gregory et al, 2020;Pratt & Dabkowski, 2022), as well as whether the selected tool for implementation was the problem regarding upfront cost, dependency and integration (Kass & Kolozs, 2016;Savary-Leblanc et al, 2021). Select success attributes from the survey were then investigated to determine their correlation to MBSE success in SMEs.…”