Network management issues in a process-driven manufacturing environment

Historically, the development of network management systems has relied heavily on the use of the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), in which requests are issued by a network manager via a network management platform and the raw network management data is transported to a central point for processing. Due to its simplicity, SNMP has become the most common method of carrying out network management. However, it has been argued that such a method is inappropriate for large multiple domain networks, especially, in our project, a distributed manufacturing network system. This paper demonstrates a new management paradigm to achieve company goals and improve performance measurement by monitoring network activities. A specific Management information Base (MIB) named ManuMIB (Manufacturing MIB) is proposed to define a set of attributes that would be appropriate for a range of applications that produce strategic manufacturing enterprise decisions. One important feature discussed in this research is the functional dependencies between manufacturing activities or processes, especially in dynamic circumstances. Some discussions and implementations regarding the above concerns will also be described in this paper.