The system and engineering life-cycle in automation technology is supported by various CAE systems in the different phases and disciplines of the engineering process. To reduce faults at the system interfaces and to allow dynamic changes during the engineering process it is necessary to provide standardised interfaces for electronic data exchange. This paper describes the situation in the engineering life-cycle of plant and manufacturing automation and shows the difficulties resulting from changes in one system parameter. Different activity models are introduced and evaluated. Regarding the evaluation results the requirements of the life cycle are defined and a first approach of a life-cycle model for machinery and manufacturing automation are introduced.
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