MITIP 2012 Modern Information Technology in the Innovation Processes of Industrial Enterprises APPLICATION OF PRODUCTION SYSTEM CLASSIFICATIONS IN RAPID DESIGN AND VIRTUAL PROTOTYPING Christen Rose-Anderssen 1 , James Scott Baldwin 1 , Keith Ridgway 1 , Fabian Boettinger 2 , Kwabena Agyapong-Kodua 3 , Ivan Brencsics 4 , Istvan Nemeth 5 1 Advanced Manufacturing Institute, The University of Sheffield Sheffield, UK (MEP09CR, j.baldwin, k.ridgway)@sheffield.ac.uk 2 Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA Stuttgart, Germany Fabian.Boettinger@ipa.fraunhofer.de 3 Precision Manufacturing Centre, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham Nottingham, UK Kwabena.Agyapong-Kodua@nottingham.ac.uk 4 Gamax Kft Budapest, Hungary ivan.brencsics@gamax.hu 5 Department of Manufacturing Science and Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics Budapest, Hungary inemeth@manuf.bme.hu Abstract: This paper presents a practical application of classifications of production systems which underlie a web-based expert system for automating the identification, diagnosis and improvement of such systems. This will complement the larger COPERNICO software system, which simplifies and makes accessible essential modelling tools for the rapid design, simulation and virtual prototyping of factories. The objectives are to systematically organise manufacturing systems and their characteristics in classifications to reveal the change process that connects the development of processes and technologies, to their overarching system; and to develop a useful benchmarking tool to enable users to view manufacturing systems in an evolutionary landscape, gauge performance, and identify strategies and tools for change and improvement. Keywords: Evolution, Cladistic Classification, Linnaean Classification, Manufacturing Cladistics 1 INTRODUCTION The aim of this work is to develop a classification system applicable to the wide-ranging and diverse organisations that make up the discrete manufacturing sector of the EU where a wide variety of manufacturing systems and technologies are employed to make a wide range of