Transformations in product development to enable globally distributed self-organizing production systems

Globally distributed production of products, systems or elements influence both the system architecture and the development process. Influences from logistics, different manufacturing technologies, self-organizing production organization and the efficient use of globally distributed production capacities imply the need to change the design of the system and its development process. Different production sites, for example, require distinctly specified or standardized descriptions of subsystems or elements to be produced. The effort for coordination and formation of interfaces increases, if this fact was not sufficiently taken into account in the design of the subsystem or element. Proximity to the customer implies an important factor for individualized products due to the business model of mass customization. The paper provides overviews of a) transformations in the development process and b) possible solutions for the effective usage of distributed self-organizing production systems. Resulting risks and opportunities from the viewpoint of product engineering are analyzed. Implications for the application of the interdisciplinary development method of the V-model from VDI 2206 guideline are discussed. The structured and established form of the guideline helps to point out which development steps are influenced by globally distributed self-organizing production systems.