Supporting production strategies as refinements of the production process

The promotion of a clear separation between artifact construction and artifact assembling is one of the hallmarks of software product lines. This work rests on the assumption that the mechanisms for producing products considerably quicker, cheaper or at a higher quality, rest not only on the artifacts but on the assembling process itself. This leads to promoting production processes as “first-class artifacts”, and as such, liable to vary to accommodate distinct features. Production process variability and its role to support either production features or production strategies are analyzed. As prove of concept, the AHEAD Tool Suite is used to support a sample application where features require variations on the production process.