Requirements Engineering for Cyber Physical Production Systems: The e-CORE approach and its application

Traditional manufacturing and production systems are in the throes of a digital transformation. By blending the real and virtual production worlds, it is now possible to connect all parts of the production process: devices, products, processes, systems and people, in an informational ecosystem. This paper examines the underpinning issues that characterize the challenges for transforming traditional manufacturing to a Cyber Physical Production System. Such a transformation constitutes a major endeavour for requirements engineers who need to identify, specify and analyse the effects that a multitude of assets need to be transformed towards a network of collaborating devices, information sources, and human actors. The paper reports on the e-CORE approach which is a systematic, analytical and traceable approach to Requirements Engineering founded on a ‘capability-oriented’ paradigm with particular emphasis on ‘early requirements’. The utility of the approach is demonstrated using two use cases from an industrial-size application in the automotive industry and specifically the case of requirements of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.