The Role of Low-code Trend in Smart Factory and Digitalized

Production

Raj Vaghani,224737
SS2022
[email protected]

Introduction
The Low code is set of tools which helps in quick generation and delivery of business
applications with minimum efforts to write in coding language and provide ease for the
installation and configuration of any environment, training, and maintenance. With increasing
demand in world markets, use of Low code is significant solution to creating business
applications. This method is proved, so far, fastest, and probably cheapest method to
developing software. Businesses need to change at a rate that can keep up with competitors,
vendors, and the modern consumer’s impatient desires.

Instead of using hard-coded programming methodologies, Low-code Development Platforms

(LCDP) rely on graphical user interfaces to design the application. The LCDP's feature is
concentrated on the advancement of the following:
Databases,
Business processes,
User interface (web-based applications)

The idea behind fourth generation programming (4GL) and the ideas behind Rapid Application
Development (RAD) are the sources of the Low-code programming technique. By using Low-
code programming, the programmer may focus more on designing the look and feel of the
application and spend less time worrying about the syntax of the code, which cuts down on the
time needed for implementation and troubleshooting. Programming experts in the year 2011
introduce the concept of Low-code as a cutting-edge and innovative technology.
The following methods led to the development of Low-code programming:
• Model-driven software development approach
• Rapid application development
• Automatic code generation
• Visual programming
Customized solutions are widely used in business. Low-code platforms speed up the
introduction of modifications while enabling you to construct applications without writing
code. Salesforce, Microsoft PowerApps, Mendix, Google App Maker, TrackVia, and Appian
are the leading global vendors of low-code platforms.

The low-code platform for automating business operations in the manufacturing industry is a
challenging and demanding task that has led to solutions for many technological and research
issues. Further study was needed in the fields of basic, applied, diagnostic, verification, and
algorithms.

Low-code Platform
From reducing costs associated with labour and maintenance to ensuring a higher net yield of
manufactured goods via quality improvements, automation is key to running a profitable
factory today.
Many businesses must enter a completely new world of data understanding and development,
and they must also face entirely new challenges, such as:
• Acquiring and paying for expert development skills;
• Comprehending user experience to create intuitive applications;
• Manually maintaining applications and automated processes to ensure minimal
downtime.
Companies did not choose to automate procedures due to these technological and development
challenges. It changed when a new alternative became available that could make all those
difficulties simpler while still enabling even those with the least amount of development
knowledge to produce automated systems and applications. The Low-code platform is this new
option. Application creation based on business process diagrams necessitates a certain
modelling approach. BPMN(Business Process Model) diagrams allow for the drawing of some
structures that are more complicated but not suited for automation.

To ensure that each request in the process can be uniquely identifiable as a collection of screen
forms, attachments, and user actions, a process diagram should be created in this manner. In
this method, after giving the contractor his work, we give him the information and resources
he needs to complete it.
 Fig. 1. BPMN diagram from Aurea architecture. Source: Aurea Software.

The system architecture in above figure is a simple workflow to a complex solution with
databases, user and client dashboards, content management, task automation, load balancing,
mobile interface, business monitoring, post-action review, and process simulation can all be
prepared using Aurea BPM's user interface module generation algorithms.

Features of Low-code Platforms

Now let's move on to the studied LCPs' identified characteristics, which will be categorized as
common, irregular, and rare based on how often they occur. When appropriate, we shall
attribute these characteristics to the static, functional, and dynamic systems development
viewpoints. Fig. 2 provides a summary of common characteristics.
 Fig. 2. Common Features of Low-code Platform. Source: Springer link
Many LCP features come under the static perspective. Every product under consideration has
a part for defining data structures. The conceptual modelling tool that implements either a
traditional data modelling language (such as an Entity-Relationship Model variation) or a
simplified custom language is usually always offered as this component. Sometimes, only UI-
based dialogs or lists can be used to define data structures. The ability to use a number of
application programming interfaces to access external data sources is a related shared feature
(APIs). For instance, all of the platforms allow for the use of common APIs, such as JDBC, as
well as a variety of connectors to different kinds of files and systems. The platforms often allow
data to be stored in either an internal database system or in already-existing external systems.

Additionally, all systems provide the fundamental functional requirements. Here, dialog-based
methods of defining program flow conditions and simple expression languages for decision
rules are the most typical approaches. The same is true for each solution, which offers a
collection of general standard procedures like mathematical functions. Additionally, all
solutions support using APIs to invoke and integrate external functions in different ways. For
instance, practically all systems let the use of industry-standard techniques like web services
and RESTful (representational state transfer) services. Likewise, many systems enable the use
of many providers' APIs, including Google APIs and other social media APIs.
 Conclusion
As a result of research and development efforts, a low-code platform was created that meets
market demands. For the creation of such solutions, experts see immense potential. The
primary causes of this are a shortage of programmers and rising demands for the volume and
frequency of changes made to IT systems. Manual coding requires a lot of time and skill. Low-
code platforms drop these challenges because they don't require programming to create Apps.
An investigation of the market for information technology was conducted in 2017 by Joe
McKendrick, an analyst at Unisphere Research, a renowned analytical canter that is a division
of Information Today, Inc. He produced a study titled "The Rise of the Empowered Citizen
Developer: “Can IT Be Done Without IT?” This study shows that the lengthy wait times for
requested data and reports as well as the delivery of business applications to end users are the
top issues facing business departments. This results in circumstances where so-called "Citizen
Development" happens by default in corporate departments on its own and using standard
office software. Business apps will undoubtedly be made faster and better if those who design
them are given the right tools and are encouraged to take their responsibilities more seriously.
This might happen, among other things, because the process of moving needs from business
departments to IT departments is streamlined, lowering the possibility of mistakes and
misunderstandings.

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3475716.3475782 :Characteristics and Challenges of

Low-Code Development: The Practitioners' Perspective