Logistic and production computer systems in small-medium enterprises

This paper presents a survey which describes how small-medium enterprises (SMEs) implement and use their information system with respect to their logistic and production processes. The first part of the study identifies the characteristics of the companies and detects their general attitude towards information technology (IT). The second part propose a list of detailed logistic and production processes to analyze the structure and workflow of companies. For each process, if it is present, the company indicates whether it is supported by electronic means and, if so, the information system adopted, according to three categories: ERP system, office automation, specific developed system. The processes are grouped in ten macro-areas, five for the logistics and five for the production, and the aggregate results of the survey are presented in the paper. The novelty of the study and its interest, both in academic and institutional context as in the real world, resides in the opportunity to evaluate the attitude of SMEs towards information technology in defining, organizing, planning and controlling their logistic and production processes.