A Reference Data Model for Material Flow Analysis in the Context of Material Handling System Design and Reconfiguration

The design and reconfiguration of Material Handling Systems (MHS) at the factory scale is known to be complex. Various data and analyses are required to define the internal logistics needs the MHS must fulfill. In the literature, the identification of the MHS’ needs is performed through Material Flow Analysis (MFA). The MFA is expressed through charts and diagrams which are manually developed. The manual development of charts and diagrams leads to gathering data in a disseminated way. Additionally, MFA is differently addressed in the literature; each work analyzes a different and restrained set of data. In this paper, we aim to generalize MFA by proposing a Reference Data Model (RDM) using UML (Unified Modeling Language) class diagrams. It allows the listing and structuring of all the data required for the MFA. The RDM can be used to conduct a data-driven MFA which enables data integrity and the reduction of the development time of charts and diagrams. A proof of concept is also given to show the ability to simultaneously generate charts and diagrams while ensuring data integrity.