THE OPERATION OF AN INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEM WITH CUSTOMER ACCESS VIA ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE

This paper reports a model of a real-time manufacturing system. Within this system the ongoing operations of the shop floor are monitored and up-to-the-minute information is maintained. Such a manufacturing system incorporates information as soon as it becomes available and it assembles and processes items only if the required parts from the preceding stages are available. In addition, the manufacturing system is interfaced with the customer by means of electronic data interchange. This allows instant communication between the manufacturing enterprise and the customer. The model reported here incorporates these features. Thus the real-life impact of uncertainties as they relate to an integrated shop-floor control environment is captured by the model. Several hypotheses relating to various variables and their interactions are formed and tested. The differences between the deterministic and the real-time environment are highlighted.