This paper presents a concept of development of Manufacturing Execution System (MES) by using simulations. MES is one of manufacturing systems that are used to bridge the data between the gap of the bottom layer (such as the shop floor control) and the enterprise system layer (such as Enterprise Resource Planning: ERP). The paper focuses on the functions of MES which link the levels of operatio...

Existing knowledge about agile manufacturing (AM) and an agile workforce was reviewed in order to extend the concept of agility to the whole enterprise. The frameworks that describe other elements of the enterprise besides manufacturing, or contain attributes that could be applied to all enterprise structures were also included into the review. The review identified a large number of papers rel...

A deterrent to practical use of many feature extraction systems is that they are diicult to maintain, either because they depend on the use of a library of feature-types which must be updated when the underlying manufacturing resources change (e.g. tools and xtures), or they rely on the use of task-speciic post processors, which must also be updated. For such systems to become practical, it mus...

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the approach of a scalable, flexible and adaptive simulation model used in factory planning on the basis of existing ERP and MES data. The dynamic simulation model was developed to validate and verify the changes of the production yield during factory planning and restructuring in the shop floor. This includes machinery relocation and ramp-up, new pro...

Being confronted with IT strategic questions of how to constantly reduce IT operating costs and at the same time live up to ever increasing manufacturing demands, automobile manufacturers are encountering problems to find appropriate IT support for production planning and execution. Moreover, they are facing the challenge to clearly define and demarcate Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Ma...

In this paper, we present a unified framework for production planning and scheduling in make-to-order manufacturing. Both planning and scheduling problems are captured as resource-constrained project scheduling problems. The actual models and solution techniques are different at the two levels. Hence, we also suggest an aggregation method that provides the connection between planning and schedu...

This paper focuses on the development of a methodology within a software environment for automating the rule based implementation of specifications of integrated manufacturing information systems. The specifications are initially formulated in a naturallanguage and subsequently represented in terms of a graphical representation by the system designer. A new graphical representation tool is base...

In this paper, we present the system architecture of a flexible manufacturing planning and control system, named EtoPlan. The concept is based on the holonic control approach of building multiple and temporary hierarchies (holarchies). This paper describes the system architecture for flexible planning and control of activities and (groups of) Resources in a manufacture-to-order environment. The...

The manufacturing industry faces many challenges such as reducing time-to-market and cutting costs. In order to meet these increasing demands, effective methods are need to support the early product development stages by bridging the gap of communicating early design ideas and the evaluation of manufacturing performance. This paper introduces methods of linking design and manufacturing domains ...