Manufacturing system design methodology: execute the specification

An improved method for designing manufacturing systems is presented. Primary features of the improved method include frequent design iterations by executing the specification early in the life cycle, flexibility to accommodate changing requirements, coordination of engineering disciplines in evolving integrated solutions, and reuseability of commonly used software and hardware portions of a system. Benefits of the improved method include more optimal systems designs, solving integration issues during design phase rather than installation, and verification of design specifications. The improved method is called XSpec, which stands for eXecutable Specification. The XSpec notation and design process are described. Specifications are executed on a tool called XFaST, which stands for eXecutable Factory Simulation Tool.<
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