Tài liệu Next Generation Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Strategies docx

Guest Editorial
Next generation computer
-
integrated
manufacturing strategies and techniques
A. GUNASEKARAN
Computer
-
Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) offers a
number of useful and po tential opportunities for
improving the competitiveness of manu facturing. The
motivation for CIM has been base d on the perceived
need for manufacturing industry to respond to changes
more rapidly than in the past. CIM has potential
a pplications in ma nufacturing strategies, such as agil e ,
l ean and virtual enterprises. Hence, there is a need to
investigate the areas of further development, applica
-
tions and implications of CIM in the next generation of
manufacturing organizations.
It is axiomatic that computers, computer applica
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tions and integrated (such as enterprise and value
chain wide) computer systems will be applied in next
g eneration manufacturing companies. The key pro
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blem that remains to be resolved is to define where we
will apply these systems, how we will apply these systems,
how these systems wi ll be created and how the division
of tasks between the ‘
people system

’ and the CIM system is
decided.
The papers that appear in this special issue deal with
strategic frameworks, conceptual and analytical models,
a nd case studi es focusing on new architectures, changes
in the organization, technology and people required
for the design and imp lementation of CIM in or der to
enabl e companies to compete on flexibility and
responsiveness. The contributed papers deal with, but
a re not limited to, the following.
·
Strategic and organizational adaptation of Com
-
puter
-
Integrated Manufacturing Systems (CIMS)
for 21st century manufacturing competitiveness.
·
Design methodologies for CIM systems including
architectures and evaluation of adaptability for
l ean and agile manufacturing, and value chain
integration.
·
CIM in a physically distributed manufacturing
en vironment.
·
Enterprise integration and environmental issues
as the main objectives in the design and imple
-
mentation of CIMS.

·
Rapid prototyping , virtual desig n, virtual manu
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facturing and virtual enterprise and CIM.
·
Operations Control (productivity, quality, flexi
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bility, cost and dependability) in the future CIMS.
·
CIM in Small and Medium Enterprises.
·
Human factors and CIM.
An overview of the articles that appear in this special
i ssue is presented below.
The paper, ‘Computerization strategy for Small
Manufacturing Enterprises in Hong Kong, by Chung
and Chik, presents the results of an empirical study of
computerization in Small Manufacturing Enterpr ises
( SMEs) in Hong Kong. This study uses a survey as a
research instrument to collect data co ncerning the
organizational and technical system design issues of
computerization in Hong Kong SMEs. The strategic
components, in cluding manufacturing initiatives, man
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agerial concerns, technological investment and organi
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z ational change manage ment, are identified and
evaluated. Based on the result s of this study, a
computerization framework is developed for SMEs to
gain competitive advantage.

Sivakumar in his paper, ‘Multiobjective dynamic
s che duling discrete event simulation’, develops a
discrete event simulation based ‘online near
-
real
-
time’
dynamic multi
-
objective scheduling system to achieve
Pareto optimal solutions in a complex manufacturing
environment. The approach includes the use of a linear
optimization algorithm with multiple objectives and
auto simulation model generation. Manufacturing is
INT. J. COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING, 2001, VOL. 14, NO. 2, 137–139
International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
ISSN 0951
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192X print/ ISSN 1362
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3052 online
Ó
2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http:/ / www.tandf.co.uk/ journals
Author: A. Gunasekaran, Department of Management, University of Massachu
-
setts, North Dartmouth, MA 02747
-
2300, USA.
e

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mail:
one of the most complex elements of the supply chain
a nd he focuses on manufacturing to demonstrate the
capability that may be extended in future to the entire
supply chain. The author has implemented the system
a t a semiconductor back
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end site to test the solutions.
The impact of the syste m includes the achievement of
world
-
class cycle time, improved machine utilization,
reduction in the time that plann ers and manufacturing
personnel spend on scheduling, and more predictable
a nd highly repeatable manufacturing performance. In
a ddition, it enables managers and senior planners to
carry out ‘what if’ analysis to plan for the future.
Because of the exigencies imposed by the market,
production management must take into account and
optimize the exchange of data with the environment of
the firm (clients, providers and partners) . Information
technologies such as the Internet can provide SMEs
with appropriate solutions. Caillaud and Passemard in
their paper, ‘CIM and virtual enterprises: a case study in
a SME’, propose a methodology to analyse and design
a n extended production management system. Their
a griculture c ooperative c ase study illustrates the defini
-
tion of a solution dedicated to the needs of reactivity in

synergy with its partner s’ network.
CIM requires cross
-
functional cooperation, and the
involvement of employees in product and process
development. A successful CIM initiative in SMEs must
have top management involvement and commitment
a nd a CIM compatible organizational infrastructure,
which includes the requisite skills, appropriate training
a nd education , and adequate incentives and rewards.
Top management must commit the resources necessary
to acquire the required technology and bring about any
necessary changes in the organizational infr astructure.
Top management must likewise be willing to accept the
l ong
-
term consequences of their decisions. SMEs play
a n increasingly important role in the competitiveness of
many industr ies in the areas of product and process
innovation, flexibility, and in the development of
innovative management meth ods, organizational con
-
ventions, and human resource practices. One of the
ways that SMEs can achieve a competitive advantage in
manufacturing is through the implementation of CIM.
To promote a better understanding of organizational
issues pertaining to the implementation of CIM in
SMEs, a framework is proposed by Marri, Gunasekaran,
McGaughey and Grieve in their paper, ‘Implications of
organization and human behaviour on the implemen

-
tation of CIM in SMEs: an empirical anal ysis’ , for use in
examining and explaining the organizational ramifi ca
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tions of CIM. A literature review and an empirical study
provide the foundation for the proposed framework.
With the rapid development of transportation and
Internet technology, more and more businesses are
b eing org anized as manufacturing networks of different
units. Some of these units are wholly owned by the Core
Company, while others are outsourced to service
providers. The formation of a virtual enterprise is
b ecoming a growing trend as companies concentrate
upon lean manufacturing, core competence and
economic benefit. Studies indicate that the a dministra
-
tion and management of these networks, which involve
a number of partner companies with dissimilar business
natures and which are mostly geographically dispersed,
is an important issue to be addressed. Owing to the
diverse interests, competence and business culture of
individual partner companies, the selection of manu
-
fa cturing partners would be an essential success factor.
In addition, th e capability of the information flow
infrastructure is another consideration since it affects
the performance of the virtual network. Lau and Wong
in their paper, ‘Partner selection and information
infrastructure of a virtual enterprise network’, attempt
to address both of these issues with the objective of

showing how small companies can make use of the
emerging technology. A case example is presented to
il lustrate the manufacture of electronic pagers via the
virtual enterprise network.
Cutting pieces of given shapes and sizes from an
object of larger dimensions with minimal material loss is
a practical problem whose optimal or suboptimal
solutions have great economical value in many applica
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tions. The solutions of this problem often require
a utomated tools, which may not be achievable for
SMEs. Ahonen, Alvarenga and Provedel in their paper,
‘A client
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broker
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server architecture of a virtual enter
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prise for cutting stock applications’, propose an
a pproach based on the concept of virtual enterprise
using a client
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bro ker
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se rver architecture as an imple
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mentation model.
Impleme ntation of Statistical Process Control
(SPC) in an automated environment requires a
number of issues to be addressed. Changes in sample

data distributi on and statistical properties, such as
indepe ndence, will affe ct the use and interpretation
of SPC procedures; changed monitoring and adjust
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ment techniques will influence the subsequent deci
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sion making; at the same time, automation could
fa cilitate implementation of SPC with other control
techniques, In the paper, ‘SPC in an automated
manufacturing environment’ , Cai, Xie and Goh
discuss the potential of combining SPC with eng ineer
-
ing process control methods. Comparative analysis
b etween tr aditiona l SPC methods and SPC combined
with f e edback control is presente d. Actual and
simulated data are used to illustrate the procedure,
which, because of its self
-
tuning ability, could greatly
reduce s yste m re
-
adjustment, while most of the
Guest Editorial
138
advantages of traditional SPC are simultaneously
pre served.
SMEs have gained competitive advantage by using
Just
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In

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Time (JIT) , Total Quality Management (TQM) ,
a nd Information Technology (IT). Cellular Manufactur
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ing ( CM) has received less attention from SMEs. The
paper, ‘Experience of a Small to Medium Size Enter
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prise in the design and implementation manufacturing
cells’, by Gunasekaran, McNeil, McGaughey and Ajasa
reports the findings of a case study on the application of
Group Technology (GT) in an SME. A framework for
the design and implementation of Cellular Manufactur
-
ing Systems ( CMSs) is proposed. The framework is
examined and explained in the context of the case
study. The first part of this paper examines the nature of
CM as well as its strategic value to manufacturing firms.
The second part focuses on the design and implementa
-
tion of CMSs. Finally, a case study conducted at a small
company in England is used to demonstrate the
a pplication of the framework.
Efficient management of product information is
critical to the enhancement of corporate competitive
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ness. Kim, Kang, Lee and Yoo in their paper, ‘A
distributed, open, intelligent product data management
system’, explain the design and development of a
distributed, open, and intelligent product data manage
-

ment system. First, the authors summarize the require
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ments for Product Data Management (PDM) systems
and explain them using a design scenario. Sinc e
product data are often managed in distributed comput
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ing environments, Common Object Request Broker
Architecture (CORBA) is employed to ensure the
interoperability among distributed objects. Standard
formats of data and knowledge, such as the Standard
for Exchange of Pr oduct model data ( STEP) and
Knowle dge Query an d Man ipulation Lan guage
(KQML), are used to achieve openness. Then, they
developed a workflow management system that pro
-
vides an integrated manag ement of task processes and
information flows. Wh ile designing the system, the main
emphasis is given to dynamic process adaptation, which
i s much demanded by product development processes.
U se of intelligent agents is proposed to achieve the
adaptation at run time. A method of agent cooperation
and communication is described. The agents are also
used to implement content search f or enhance d
product data services.
To date, many general procedural mode ls to
formulate the design process and to assess the qual ity
of desig n have been described by industrialists and
researchers. Despite similarities, all suggested meth
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odologies contain various types of information that

provide few possibilities for practitioners to consider
users’ reaction towards product attribu tes. In practice
and in a majority of cases, designers and manufacturers
deploy huge investments in research and development
and in product designs that still have to be used with a
complexity of preferences by customers. The model
presented by Mosuavi, Adl, Rakowski, Gunasekaran and
Mirnezami in their paper, ‘Customer Optimization
Route and Evaluation (CORE) for product design’,
addresses the need for interactions between design and
market needs. A method to translate customers’
qualitative requirements into design attributes is intro
-
duced in CORE. The customer’s satisfaction level for
each product attribute is th en evaluated, offering
guidelines to designers for improvement i n product
design.
Acknowledgments
The Guest Editor of this Special Issue has been
overwhelmed by the response to the call for papers for
‘Next generatio n computer
-
i ntegrated manufacturing
strategies and techniques’. Each paper was reviewed by
at least two referees. The Guest Editor gratefully
ackno wledges the assistan ce provided by the Editors
of the
Intern ational Journal of Computer
-
Integrated Manu

-
facturing
(Professors Dave Williams and Steve Newman)
and more than 20 anonymous referees who reviewed
manuscripts for this Special Issue.
Guest Editorial
139