The  market  for  many  industrial  production  companies  is  getting  tougher  as  the  global competition is increasing. The collaborative manufacturing model, see Figure 1 (Gorbach & Nick, 2002), reflects the fact that companies today need to collaborate both externally and internally to reach success on the market. The external collaboration is presented through the  two  horisontal  axis’.  The  value  chain  axis  highlights  the  need  for  cooperation  with suppliers  and  customers,  and  the  lifecycle  axis  that  goes  from  design  to  support  often includes third parties and thereby also calls for external collaborations. The vertical axis, the enterprise  axis,  represents  the  need  for  internal  cooperation  from  the  business  side  to  the production  side,  sometimes  expressed  in  statements  such  as  ”shop  floor  to  top  floor”,”sensor to boardroom” or ”Plant to enterprise”.  The internal cooperation is, in this article refered to as Enterprise Control.

Enterprise control includes different aspects of control, monitoring, supervision and data and information management. Taking care of these aspects has become increasingly important and today  there  are  several  products  out  on  the  market  dealing  with  these  issues.  From  the operator’s  perspective  they  can  be  supported  via  different  means  such  as  implementation through textual languages, or implementation through graphical languages etc.The  usage  of  graphical  languages  has  many  advantages  such  as  giving  the  user  a  good visual interpretation of what is happening (compare “a picture says more than a thousand words”), the user often believe it is easier to program by graphical means then by textual means,  increased  possibility  to  use  colours,  etc.  In  this  spirit,  the  possibility  to  have  one common  graphical  language  for  Enterprise  Control  is  very  appealing.  A  well  developed graphical  language  should  have  support  for  formal  analysis,  have  a  well  defined  and limited  number  of  graphical  elements, good  abstraction  facilities,  and  a  solid  base  in  it syntax, semantics and pragmatics.The  aim  if  this  paper  is  to  present  trends,  similarities  and  differences  in  the  usage  of graphical languages within Enterprise Control. The paper also gives ideas of how a common language  could  be  used  to  increase  the  internal  collaboration  and  what  advantages  this could bring.

Production systems

Industrial production can be classified in many various ways. One natural way is to classify them according to the industrial sector  they are acting within. Example of such sectors  are; Food& Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Metal, Pulp&Paper, Chemical and PetroChemical, Refining, Automotive, Fine chemicals, Biotechnology, Machine parts etc (Martin & Hale, 2010).Another  way  of  classifying  industrial  production  is  according  to  the  main  manufacturing process that they have. Three types of manufacturing processes exists; continuous, discrete and batch. There are industrial production systems that include all three types of processes and there are others that operates only one of them. It is common to refer to an industrial production system according to the dominant type of process (Brandl, 2006).

Many  and  various  decisions  related  to  production  have  to be  taken.  The  decisions can be divided in several layers ranging from long-time strategic decisions to real-time decisions. This is true for all types of industrial production companies. The decisions concern various types of issues ranging from long-time financial issues, planning, and procurement, through tactical decisions down to operative and real time decisions associated to automated control and human actions, see figure 2.

Industrial production software systems

In  order  to  help  with  the  production  related  decisions,  various  software  systems  are available.  Generally  speaking,  industrial  production  software  systems can  be  divided  into three layers. Closest to the actual process/plant, the process control systems (PCS) reside, with a manufacturing operations system (MOS) often on top of this, and a business system (BS) constituting the superior system, see figure 3.At  the  BS  level,  the  system  needs  to  be  able  to  perform  reasoning.  The  system  is  e.g., responsible for modifying the basic plant production schedule for orders received, based on resource   availability   changes,   energy   sources   available,   power   demand   levels,   and maintenance requirements, etc.

Current usage of graphical languages

Roughly  speaking  one  could  say  that  the  PCS  system  should  effectuate  control  of  the equipment at the level of and the level below the unit and work cell level. The MOS system should assure the control of the activities residing at the work center, area and/ or site level, and  the  BS  system  should  have  control  of  the  activities  at  the  site  and  enterprise  level. (Johnsson, 2008). This is highlighted in figure 5.

Graphical languages at the PCS level

The  process  control  system  should  assure  that  basic  control  issues  are  taken  care  of,  i.e., control   issues   that   are   dedicated   to   establishing   and   maintaining   a   specific   state   of equipment or process condition, and/or simple on/off control. The process control system often depends on the type of industry where it is applied; discrete, continuous or batch.

•    Continuous processes are characterized by the production of material in a continuous flow e.g., bulk chemicals, pulp and paper production. In continuous industries the basic control consists of running a system in steady state.

•    Discrete  processes  are  characterized  by  production  of  a  specific  quantity  of  material, where each element of the material can be uniquely identified, e.g., production of cars. In  discrete  processes  the  basic  control  includes  the  control  of  start  up,  transition  and shut down phases.

•    Batch processes are characterized by generation of finite quantities of material, called a batch, at each production cycle. Material is produced by subjecting specific quantities of input materials to a specified order of processing actions using one or more pieces of equipment. One example could be the production of cookies, in which several cookies are  produced  in  the  same  batch.  The  cookies  produced  in  the  same  batch  can  not  be uniquely  identified,  but  the  cookies  produced  by  different  batches  can  be  identified. Basic  control  for  batch  processes  includes  characteristics  from  both  continuous  and discrete processes.IEC 61131-3 is a global standard for industrial control programming at the PCS level (IEC,1993).

The  standard  specifies  the  syntax  and  semantics  of  a  five  programming  languages; Instruction List, Structured Text, Ladder Diagram, Function Block Diagram and Sequential Function Chart (SFC). Two of the languages are textual; Instruction List and Structured Text, and  two  are  graphical;  Ladder  Diagram  and  Function  Block  Diagram.  In  addition,  the graphical   language   Sequential   Function   Chart   (SFC)   is   defined   with   the   purpose   of structuring the internal organization of a program.IEC  60848  is  another  international  standard  that  specifies  Grafcet.  Grafcet  was  proposed  in France in 1977 as a formal specification and realization method for logical controllers. During several years Grafcet was tested in French industries. It soon proved to be a convenient tool for representing small and medium scale sequential systems at the PCS level. In 1988 Grafcet, with minor changes, was adopted as an international standard known as IEC 60848 (IEC, 1988).

The  basic  building  blocks  in  Grafcet  and  SFC  are  steps  and  transitions.  An  example  of  a Grafcet/SFC is shown in Figure 6.In discrete and batch manufacturing, graphical languages such as Grafcet or SFC (Sequential Function Chart) are commonly used. These languages are both based on a state/transition model and can therefore be used in order to express the sequential order in which actions should be carried out. Due to their intuitive nature and their ease of use, they have become very popular. Within continuous industries, textual languages are still most frequently used, however, a sequential language such as Grafcet or SFC can be used for certain tasks.

Graphical languages at the MOS level

At the MOS level there is a need for both supervisory control at the work cell level and for, what could be called, “manufacturing control” at the area and site level.Within the batch community a language called Procedural Function Chart (PFC), aimed at supervisory control, has been proposed and included in the ISA standard for batch control called  ISA  88.01  (ISA,  1995).  This  standard  has  also  been  accepted  as  an  international standard referred to IEC 61512-1 (IEC, 1997).  The PFC takes care of the control of activities at the process cell level. PFC is highly influenced by Grafcet/SFC regarding its syntax. PFC is becoming popular also in the discrete industry. Another   graphical   language   developed   recently   and   aimed   at   supervisory   control applications  at  the  process  cell  level  is  Grafchart  (Johnsson,  1999).  Grafchart  has  been developed at Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden since 1991 (Arzén, 1991). Grafchart is based  on  Grafcet/SFC.  It  contains  support  for  step  with  actions,  transitions,  parallel  and alternative  branching,  and  macro  steps.  An  entire  chart  can  be  encapsulated  within  a Grafchart   process   and   sequences   that   are   executed   in   more   than   one   place   can   be represented  as  Grafchart  procedures.  In  addition  to  this  there  is  additional  support  for procedural  programming  (procedural  step)  and  for  separate  execution  threads  (process steps).  These  two  new  graphical  elements  together  with  the  fact  that  Grafchart  is  object- oriented  and  that  it  has  support  for  parameterization  and  methods  and  message  passing highly  facilitates  the  reusability  of  an  implementation.  Grafchart  served  as  a  source  of inspiration for PFCs. An example of a Grafchart, used for structuring a batch recipe at the process cell level, is shown in Figure 7.

The typical user of a MOS system is an operator working in the production plant and/or its production  manager.  Both  persons  have  a  good  understanding  of  the  production  process and are often technically skilled. In case the production plant is executed by manual actions, the  operator  might  use  the  graphical  language  for  visualizing  the  sequential  order  of  the operations he/she should perform. If the production plant is run automatically by various equipments and machines, the operator might use the graphical language for looking at the sequential progress of the execution taking place in the production plant. The  manufacturing  operation  systems  have  lately  received  a  lot  of  interest  form  the industries. The reason being that there is a need for a clear definition of activities at this level as well as a desire of a more sophisticated and advanced coordination control at this level, let’s  call  it  “manufacturing  control”.  At  this  level,  activities  at  the  area  and/or  site  level should be taken care of, this could for example be the synchronization of a batch process cell followed by a discrete packaging line.

Graphical languages at the BS level

At  the  Business  Systems  level,  the  interest  in  depicting  business  processes  has  increased. Business  Process  Managment  has  been  identified  as  a  top  business  priority  (Recker  et  al.,2006).Within a producing enterprise, the ultimate level depicts the overall process of going from a customer  order  to  delivery,  or  from  customer  need  to  customer  satisfaction.  The  overall business   process   consists   of   one   or   several   sub-process,   one   of   them   is   certainly manufacturing.The overall process description is used for off-line visualization of the business process for the management and board of the company. The  manufacturing  process,  being  a  sub-part  of  the  overall  business  process,  can  also  be visualized.   Figure  8  shows  an  example  of  a  manufacturing  process,  i.e.,  how  to  go  from internal order to produced order. The manufacturing process could span over one or many areas, e.g., the production area and the packaging area.

In many cases, the language used at this level is most often local to the company and the processes visualized are only used as off-line tool for organization improvements.In general, process models at the BS level, serve two main purposes.First, intuitive business process models are used for scoping the project, and capturing and discussing business requirements and process improvement initiatives with subject matter experts. The recent introduction of legislative frameworks such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Nielsen  &  Main,  2004)  further  contributed  to  the  increasing  interest  in  business  process modeling   as   a   way   of   capturing   and   graphically   documenting   the   processes   of   an organization (Recker et al., 2006). Second,  business  process  models  are  used  for  process  automation,  which  requires  their conversion into executable specifications, i.e., turning the depicted processes into an on-line workflow management system (Recker et al., 2006). The  graphical  languages  for  processes  are  being  harmonized,  one  example  of  such  an initiative  is  The  Business  Process  Modeling  Notation  (BPMN)  developed  by  Business Process Management Initiative  (BPMI), (BPMI, 2007). The  typical  person  interested  in  the  business  processes  are  management,  i.e.,  usually persons  without  a  deep  technical  knowledge  of  the  production  process.  In  addition,  the management  does  more  often  have  a  strategic  or  economic  interest  in  looking  at  the processes.

Situation at present

The The situation concerning the usage of graphical languages could be summaries in the following way, see also figure 9:

•      PCS level: Standardized graphical languages are used for basic control issues.

•    MOS   level:   Standardized   graphical   languages   exist   and   are,   together   with   some proprietary  graphical  control  languages,  used  for supervisory  control  issues. None  or only local graphical control languages are used for “Manufacturing control” issues.

•    At  the  PCS  and  MOS  level,  the  languages  are  use  for  executing  control  over  the production  process.  The  graphical  language  has  a  bi-directional  communication  with the plant, i.e., data can be collected from the plant and visualized for the user by the

means of a graphical language, or data can be sent to the plant through the graphical language.

•    The  syntax  and  semantics  of  the  languages  used  at  the  PCS  and  MOS  level  are  very similar.

•      BS  level:  Local  graphical  languages  are  used  for  visualising  the  business  processes.

Initiatives exist striving to standardize the language used for visualization of business processes.

•    At  the  BS  level,  the  languages  are  used  for  presenting  the  business  processes.  The languages do not have a communication with the production plant.

•      The syntax of the languages used at the BS level is different from the one used at the

PCS and MOS level.

Integration

As global competition in manufacturing has increased, trends within industry have been to increase the level and amount of control and automation at all three levels. The requirement to  increasing  the  integration  between  the  three  levels  is  also  notable,  being  driven  by business needs and business processes, see figure 10.There are always some business processes that needs information from production or needs to  exercise  control  over  production.  Typical  business  drivers  of  today  are;  Just  in  time production  (requires  detailed  knowledge  about  the  available  capacity  in  the  plant),  asset

efficiency  and  overall  equipment  efficiency  (requires  detailed  knowledge  of  actual  use), reduced   cycle   time   (requires   detailed   knowledge   about   start   and   stop   times),   new regulations for tracabilty (requires better logging and tracking possibilities), finding hidden potentials (requires the collection and analysis of previously unknown data), etc. Another   approach   to   integration   is   Unified   Enterprise   Modeling   Language,   UEML. However,   UEML  is  not  intended  as  a  programming  language  by  itself  but  rather  as  an intermediate  language,  or  a  hub,  through  which  different  languages  can  be  connected (UEML, 2007).

Grafchart

Grafchart is the name of graphical language  for sequential control applications (Johnsson,1999). The language of Grafchart is, like any other programming language, fully defined by its syntax, semantics and pragmatics, (Turbak et al., 1995). The syntax defines the notations used,  the  semantics  defines  the  meaning of  the  syntax,  and  the  pragmatics  focuses  upon how the semantics is implemented. Grafchart  is  based  on  Grafcet/SFC.  There  are  strong  similarities  beween  Gracfet  and Grafchart regarding both the syntax, semantics and pragmatics (Johnsson 2000).

•    Syntax: The graphical syntax of Grafchart and Gracet is very similar. Both are based on steps and transitions with support for macro steps, parallell and alternative branches, see figure 6 and 7. The Grafchart language contains more graphical elements (building blocks)  than  Grafcet.  The  new  building  blocks  introduced  in  Grafchart  are:  Grafchart process,  Grafchart  procedure,  process  step,  Procedure  step  and  exception  transition. However,  the  new  building  blocks  does  not  extend  the  functionality  of  Grafchart compared   to   Grafcet,   but   they   facilitates   the   implementation   of   more   advanced sequence structure. The development of Grafchart from Grafcet can be compared to the evolution of assembler languages to a high-level programming language like e.g., Java.

•      Semantics: The firing rules that apply to Grafchart are similar to those of Grafcet. Rule

1:  All  fireable  transitions  are  immediately  fired  –  this  rule  applies  to  Grafcet  and Grafchart. Rule 2: Several simultaneously fireable transitions are simultaneously fired – for Grafcet this is true in all situations, for Grafchart this is true for all situations except in  an  ordivergence.  Rule  3:  When  a  step  must  be  simultaneously  activated  and deactivated,  it  remains  active  –  this  rule  apply  to  Grafcet  but  not  to  Grafchart.  In Grafchart, the step will first be deactivated and then activated again.

•    Pragmatics: the actual implementation of the language transformes the language from being  a  model  to  being  a  toolbox/framework.  There  are  several  software  systems implementing Grafcet. Grafchart exists in two versions; one version is implemented in G2,  an  expert  system  from  Gensym  corporation,  and  one  version  is  implemented  in Java and refered to as JGrafchart (Arzen, 2002).

     Thanks  to  the  strong  connection  between  Grafchart  and  Grafcet  a  user  of  one  of  the langauges would easily recognize him/her      self in the other language.Grafchart  is  also  influenced  by  ideas  from  Petri  nets,  high-level  Petri  Nets  and  object- oriented  programming.  By  adding  new  features  to  the  language,  Grafchart  is  suitable  for supervisory control applications at the MOS level. The new features are;

•    Parameterization: Macro steps, and steps may have attributes acting as parameters. The parameters can be accessed from within the step actions and the transition receptivities using  a  special  notation  “sup.attribute”.  The  parameters  are  given  their  actual  values when the procedure is called.

•    Methods  and  message  passing:  The  method  feature  denotes  the  possibility  to  have Grafchart  procedures  as  methods  of  general  objects.  From  the  body  of  the  Grafchart procedure realizing the method it is possible to reference the attributes of the object that the  method  belongs  to  using  a  special  “self.attribute”  notation. 

    A  method  is  called through  a  procedure  step.  The  method  that  will  be  called  is  determined  by  an  object reference and a method reference. At the MOS level, there is an international well accepted standard, IEC 62264, also refered to as ISA95. The standard has several parts, the first ones are published whereas the later ones are still under development. The standard recognized the need for support for presenting Manufacturing control applications, possibly through a graphical language (ISA, 2005). The  advantages  of  graphical  programming  languages  are  simplicity  and  declarativeness, this   is   true   at   all   levels;   PCS,   MOS   and   BS.   The   graphical   languages   often   allow programming in a style that closely mimics the style that people model problems. Examples of mental models that are naturally represented graphically include fault trees, organization charts,  programflowcharts,  and  block  diagrams.  Graphical  languages  fit  users’  existing perception  of  problem,  making  the  application  easier  to  build,  debug,  document,  and maintain.  An  added  benefit  is  the  possibility  to  use  colour  and  animation  to  provide feedback as the program executes.

As the vertical integration between the levels becomes more and more important it would be challenging to see, if and what, a unified common graphical language for BS, MOS and PCS level, could bring.One  future  scenario  could  be  to  connect  the  business  processes  to  the  Manufacturing Operations Systems. This would imply that the business processes could get data directly from the plant, and thereby directly visualize various key performance indicators (KPIs) for the management, see figure 11.

Conclusions

The  focus  for  this  article  is  graphical  languages  used  at  companies  in  the  producing  and manufacturing  sector  and  to  issues  related  to  production.  The  production  systems  used within  the  companiy  can  be  divided in  three  hierarchical  levels; Process  Control  Systems, Manufacturing  Operations  Systems  and  Business  Systems.  The  trends,  similarities and differences in the usage of graphical languages at these three levels are examined. There are strong similarities between the languages used at the PCS level for basic control and  the  languages  used  at  the  MOS  level  for  supervisory  control.  At  these  levels,  the activities at the unit level and below are taken care of, and there is a  very close connection to the production occurring in the plant.There is currently no standardized graphical language for “manufacturing control”, i.e., for coordinating and synchronizing the activities between various work centers and area.

At  the  BS  level,  the  business  processes  are  modelled  and  executed.  Initiatives  exist  that strive to standardize the graphical language used at this level. The syntax is different from the one used at the PCS and MOS level.  The business processes seldom has a connection to the production plant. Various KPIs and aggregated data from the plant are, rarely presented by the mean of a graphical language.

A future trend within Enterprise control will certainly be to further investigate, if, to what extent and how, the graphical languages used at the three levels could be harmonized, and to explore the advantages this could bring to its user.