Requirements for manufacturing operations management and control systems in a dynamic environment

Abstract

In today's highly dynamic manufacturing environment smooth information flow between planning and shop floor level is essential to ensure rapid reaction to changes. Unfortunately, the currently utilized dispersed MS Excel applications for production scheduling and control don't provide such an information flow. The transparency between different operational levels, and therefore the big picture, is lacking. To illustrate these challenges, this paper presents the first results of interviews, conducted among Finnish machine building companies, relating to the current practices and challenges as well as future requirements for manufacturing operations management and control systems.