Dynamic Process Synchronization Using BPMN 2.0 to Support Buffering and (Un)Bundling in Manufacturing

The complexity of manufacturing processes is increasing due to the production variety implied by mass customization of products. In this context, manufacturers strive to achieve flexibility in their operational processes. Business Process Management (BPM) can help integration, orchestration and automation of these manufacturing operations to reach this flexibility. BPMN is a promising notation for modeling and supporting the enactment of manufacturing processes. However, processes in the manufacturing domain include the flow of physical objects (materials and products) apart from information flow. Buffering, bundling and unbundling of physical objects are three commonly encountered patterns in manufacturing processes, which require fine-grained synchronization in the enactment of multiple process instances. Unfortunately, BPMN lacks strong support for this kind of dynamic synchronization as process instances are modeled and executed from a single, isolated point of view. This paper presents a mechanism based on BPMN 2.0 that enables process modelers to define synchronization points by using the concept of recipes. The recipe system uses a dynamic correlation scheme to control many-to-many interactions among process instances to implement required inter-instance synchronizations. We formally describe the involved BPMN patterns, implement and evaluate them in a manufacturing scenario in the high-tech media printing domain.