Enterprise-wide networking for manufacturing

Leading-edge corporations are striving to weave their entire organizations - as well as the pieces of their supply chains - into resilient and responsive fabrics for capturing customers. Strategic planners who are concerned with manufacturing competitiveness in the late 1990s advocate the implementation of systems that fabricate very high quality products and provide ultrarapid delivery while maintaining the lowest cost. Publications from United States and Europe point to the need for improving flexibility and concurrence in all facets of the production process. To remain competitive in today's economy, organizations need to link engineering, production, and management into one computerized information system. All the elements are slowly coming together: hardware, software, communications, costs, and most of all, attitudes. Besides information tracking, an integrated network will enable staff to communicate more effectively and thereby improve the overall productivity of the company. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.