Complex systems theory promises to solve all problems, big and small – but, concretely, what would such a solution mean in the first place? Specially, what would the automation environment of the future look like? The following presentation introduces these issues, trying to reach a “systemic view ” of complexity.

This paper discusses what the future modeling environments could look like. To tackle with ever increasing complexity of process models, higher level of abstraction needs to be exploited. It is noticed that the most natural way to connect low-level models to high-level tools is simulation. Based on such semantic grounding, new description formalisms can perhaps be implemented. 1. NEW CHALLENGES Because of the fieldbuses, and because of the modern sensor technology, etc., the availability of the industrial processes has been enhanced considerably. There is an explosion of structureless data facing us. The problem is that there do not exist enough domain area experts that could analyze the data and rewrite the models for the processes appropriately. Automatic modeling systems would be invaluable – systems that could not only adapt the model parameters within a predetermined structural framework, but also determine the structures themselves without too much human intervention. The modeling problems are attacked by utilizing different kinds of description formalisms. One major approach is to define more and more general formalisms (like Java language) for system description: In such environments, anything can be expressed, but this means that large numbers of expressions are needed

There exist various complex systems theories. Common to these ideas is that they construct fancy abstractions about complexity – so fancy that it is difficult to see the underlying domain fields any more. However, there will not exist applications of the theories if the abstractions cannot be concretized. This paper tries to show that something practical can really be reached: New approaches and conceptual tools can be developed, the application field here being industrial automation systems.