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Context. Considered the task of forming the Master Production Shedule in the process of production management based on the MRP II standard. The object of the study is the algorithm for forming this plan for further planning of materials supply for production and the organization of production itself. Objective. Improvement of the algorithm of Master Production Shedule formation to avoid unnecessary stages of the algorithm. Method. It is proposed to improve the algorithm of the Master Production Shedule formation. It consists in simultaneously taking into account the requirements for timely delivery of products to customers, limitations regarding the capacities of the company’s work centers, and limitations regarding the duration of procurement cycles in the process of supplying materials. The MRP II standard envisages first planning the terms and quantity of product releases, and only at the next step checking the formed plan for admissibility with regard to the required time of operation of the equipment and the availability of the required materials quantity. In case of the calculated plan limitations violation, it is necessary to either plan and implement measures to overcome the specified limitations, i.e. organize additional shifts for work centers, use additional capacities, speed up the delivery of some materials, or reduce the sales plan. All these measures are associated with additional costs. In the proposed version of the planning process, this should be done only if the algorithm does not find an acceptable solution. The task of forming the Master Production Shedule, which is central to the MRP standard, is formulated by the authors as a linear programming task due to the linear nature of the specified restrictions on production capacities and materials. In particular, in the case of sufficiently severe restrictions on the work centers capacity, the plan for replenishing the remaining products from production is shifted to earlier planning intervals and only then rests against the restrictions. Several strategies are proposed for planning replenishments from the production of products stock. Results. The developed algorithms are implemented in the form of Microsoft Excel templates and are available for use in order to deepen the understanding of the MRP II standard. They are also used in the educational process. Conclusions. Approbation of the solution by the authors confirmed its workability, as well as the expediency of implementing the developed modification of the MRP II planning process into the software of leading ERP class systems suppliers. Prospects for further research may consist in a comparative analysis of the proposed options for placement of products replenishment from production, through economic evaluation of these options, as well as through simulation modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "strategy" was first used in commercial jargon in 1950, i.e. at a time of turbulent political and economic changes. According to Ansoff's observation, "this interest in strategy was driven by a growing awareness that the corporate environment gradually became volatile and incoherent, and the struggle for markets, contracts, customers has begun." [1] This resulted to the fact that the goals themselves are insufficient for decisionmaking rules for the management of companies. Management needed to be adapted to changing challenges, threats and opportunities [2]. The strategies of companies can therefore be classified according to various aspects. Miles and Snow classified the company's strategies on the basis of aggression towards the market [3]. This article defines and describes the rules in logistics that are characteristic of these strategies and need to be implemented to create and application of strategy of selected type (the prospector, the defender, the analyser, the reactor). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the results of a recent field study of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) adoption strategies in U.S. manufacturing firms. The purpose of the study was to identify the extent to which CIM technologies are in use in U.S. firms, the impact of a facility's process characteristics on the CIM development process, and the adoption policy being followed implicitly or explicitly. The survey focused on manufacturing process characteristics, the CIM development process, the CIM architecture, and perceived value and benefits. Our results indicate that CIM implementations follow a definite temporal pattern with respect to the adoption of certain information technologies. We also find evidence of labor substitution through CIM, although the direct labor jobs that are lost are partially replaced by engineering and design tasks. While most CIM users find that their CIM projects successfully meet their initial operational goals, the technology seems to be poorly integrated in most sites. More crucially, it appears that CIM does not live up to its promise: it is not being adopted as a strategic information system for competitive missions. The initiative for CIM programs is usually generated from the bottom-up by small groups of technical experts who tend to focus on localized data-processing concerns. This gradual bottom-up approach appears to severely restrain, rather than enable, plant-wide integration for critical crossfunctional business processes such as order fulfillment or the introduction of new products. The decentralized, bottom-up, development pattern of these information systems reinforces the existence of many incompatible divisional islands of automation, thereby negatively affecting the competitive capability of the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "strategy" was first used in commercial jargon in 1950, i.e. at a time of turbulent political and economic changes. According to Ansoff's observation, "this interest in strategy was driven by a growing awareness that the corporate environment gradually became volatile and incoherent, and the struggle for markets, contracts, customers has begun." [1] This resulted to the fact that the goals themselves are insufficient for decisionmaking rules for the management of companies. Management needed to be adapted to changing challenges, threats and opportunities [2]. The strategies of companies can therefore be classified according to various aspects. Miles and Snow classified the company's strategies on the basis of aggression towards the market [3]. This article defines and describes the rules in logistics that are characteristic of these strategies and need to be implemented to create and application of strategy of selected type (the prospector, the defender, the analyser, the reactor). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the problem of robotic cell scheduling with m machines with flexibility, load lock and swap assumptions. The robotic cell repetitively produces parts of identical types. We determine the cycle time of all 1-unit cycles in this type of robotic cell and present two new lower bounds for robot move cycles with load lock and swap, either there is flexibility or inflexibility. We also provide a new robot move cycle and prove that it dominates all classical robot move cycles considered in the existing literature of m-machine robotic cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present a Multi-Agent System for constructing and releasing production orders. In a manufacturing enterprise, the generation of production orders consists in a set of coordinated tasks among departments. This has been achieved traditionally as a module of the Production Activity Control (PAC) system. However, classic PAC modules lack collaborative techniques and intelligent behaviour. Moreover, in real-life situations experienced planners take over traditional PAC systems, since the range of possibilities to actually build production orders increases exponentially. To contribute to production planning, we present an intelligent and collaborative Multi-Agent System (MAS), having coordinated two forms to emulate intelligence. The learning capability is achieved by means of a Feed-forward Artificial Neural Network (FANN) with the back-propagation algorithm. The FANN is embedded within a machine agent whose objective is to obtain the appropriate machine in order to comply with requirements coming from the sales department. Also, an expert system is provided to a tool agent, which in turn is in charge of inferring the right tooling. The MAS also consists of a coordinator and a spy. The coordinator agent has the responsibility to control the flow of messages among the agents, whereas the spy agent is constantly reading the Enterprise Information System. Finally, a scheduler agent schedules the production orders. The resultant MAS improves the current form to plan production in a factory dedicated to produce labels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper proposes a relationship between decision making and key qualities of business systems. Design/methodology/approach: The authors explore the relationship between decision making and systems by contrasting the decision making in two well-known systems: MRP and JIT. The two systems present two sets of opposing qualities. By considering the relationship between a decision and its environment, we propose that these sets of qualities are not unique to MRP and JIT. They arise from two general approaches to decision making. Having introduced the two approaches, we analyze three product development systems: Stage-Gate, Agile and Lean. Findings: In manufacturing, MRP is a push system; JIT is a pull system. MRP seeks perfection; JIT seeks consistency. MRP gives decision makers great discretion; JIT constrains decisions. These opposing qualities, and others, arise from two general approaches to decision making: outside-in and inside-out. As the difficulty of decisions increase, relative to a decision maker's ability, the cost of mistakes becomes significant. In these situations, the inside-out approach should outperform the outside-in approach. The inside-out approach constrains decision making to limit the cost of errors. The outside-in approach embraces complexity, exposing itself to more decision errors. In product development, the Lean and Agile systems exploit the inside-out approach. They constrain decisions and reduce the cost of errors that arise from two sources. Lean addresses interactions, which add complexity to business systems. Agile addresses unpredictability, which adds uncertainty to business systems. Originality/value: The relationships the authors propose show how decision making affects the development, control and performance of business systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful implementation of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) technologies offers manufacturing organizations numerous benefits (both tangible and intangible). The evaluation and selection process of these technologies is a very complex task due to the many parameters involved that should be taken into consideration during the selection process. In this research, a number of Saudi industries were surveyed to evaluate their current CIM technologies. Future plans regarding the implementation of such technologies are also investigated. This research also presents a decision support system (DSS) for the evolution and selection of CIM technologies, taking into consideration the requirements of manufacturing industries. This is done to ensure that the selected technologies comply with the objectives of these companies. Depending on the emerged results, a multi-attribute decision-making approach (analytical hierarchy process - AHP) is used. A computerized tool CIMAHP (selection of CIM technologies using AHP) is developed to simplify the application of the suggested DSS. Developed tools are tested and demonstrated using a real case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Traditionally the customer order decoupling point (CODP) has focused mainly on the separation of production performed on speculation from commitment to customer orders. Engineering has, with few exceptions in this context, simply been viewed as occurring before production activities in a sequential manner. As competition increases, customer requirements for short lead-times in combination with customisations requires further integration of processes involving both engineering and production activities making the traditional view of the CODP insufficient in these cases. The purpose of this paper is thus to provide a more general approach to enterprise integration of cross-functional processes in order to extend the applicability of the CODP as a logistics oriented concept. Design/methodology/approach - We use evolutionary approach to define the CODP as a two-dimensional concept based on the integration of engineering and production. Findings - The extended CODP captures the complexity in terms of possible configurations, but also provides a framework for the issues that must be handled when positioning the CODP in terms of both engineering and production simultaneously. Practical implications - The two-dimensional CODP is an important extension to make the theory better reflect reality and hence increase the scope and acceptance of both the concept CODP per se, and the analysis based on the CODP. Originality/value - By the introduction of a new two-dimensional approach, a more comprehensive CODP typology is defined. We also provide a classification of customer order influence based on a combined engineering and production perspective where the efficient CODPs constitute a set providing the highest level of customer value in terms of engineering adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the practical application of a closed-loop process control information system designed to support continuous improvements in an industrial setting. Overview of the process monitoring systems, knowledge management and continuous improvement; Framework development and extent of application; Implementation of the system; Benefits of the system.

Presents information on an investigation in the state of the art of materials requirements planning (MRP) in Egypt. Examination of obstacles that impede MRP implementation in Egypt; Reasons for implementing MRP systems; Details on the investigation.