Using BPMN for Modeling Manufacturing Processes

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is an established technique to model, analyze and optimize material and information flows in a manufacturing company. VSM does supply a graphical notation, however, it does not provide an automatic execution model. As a result, the flows modeled in VSM need to be mapped to executable ITSystems manually. This paper proposes an approach to enable automatic execution of VSM flows which is achieved by mapping the VSM language to an established business process modeling language such as the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). Processes modeled in BPMN can be automatically translated into executable processes. This enables executing both, the manufacturing processes and the business processes of a company in the same IT environment. Thus, interoperability is enabled between shop floor and office area.