*Corresponding author. Tel:#44-0-1234-754154; fax: #44-0-1234-754154.
E-mail address:B.Wu@cran"eld.ac.uk (B. Wu)
Int. J. Production Economics 65 (2000) 55}72
Manufacturing strategy analysis and manufacturing
information system design: Process and application
Bin Wu
!
,
*
, Ray Ellis
"
!School of Industrial and Manufacturing Science, Building 30, Cranxeld University, Cranxeld, Bedford MK43 0AL, UK "Kenard Engineering Company Ltd, 573/579 Princes Rd, Dartford, Kent DA2 6DZ, UK
Abstract
This paper speci"es the structure of a manufacturing strategy analysis (MSA) to manufacturing system design (MSD) interfacing model. In particular, it addresses the link between manufacturing strategic initiatives and the requirements of manufacturing information system (MIS), and proposes a structured approach to help a company identify the key MIS requirements that are needed to e!ectively support the company's future manufacturing strategic aims. The proposed method has been successfully applied in a precision engineering company, resulting in an integrated MIS that was given
The UK Machinery Award for Innovation in Production Engineering, for being `the most innovative application of computer technology in the manufacturing environmenta. ( 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Manufacturing strategy; Manufacturing system; Manufacturing information system
1. Introduction
A uni"ed framework has been proposed that
aims to set systems thinking into the context of
manufacturing systems management [1].
Manufac-turing systems management (MSM) here is de"ned as a functional domain that involves all of the activities, such as design, implementation, opera-tions and monitoring, etc., that are needed to regu-late and optimise a manufacturing system as it progresses through its life cycle. Following the key principles of systems theory, this framework
pro-vides a uni"ed framework which identi"es the main
MSM functional areas, speci"es their generic
func-tionality and contents, and then logically integrates
them into a closed loop to provide the basis for
e!ective systems management. This paper focuses
on the manufacturing strategy analysis (MSA) and manufacturing system design (MSD) interfacing function within this framework at the information
and control level. It will"rst provide a brief
over-view of the structure of this MSM framework. Then, following a description of the structure,
pro-cesses and tools speci"ed along its MSA/MSD
cycle, various new features regarding the speci"
ca-tion of informaca-tion system requirements will be discussed.
Various approaches have been developed to en-able companies to identify manufacturing strategic direction, with the aim of satisfying corporate ob-jectives. The implementation of a manufacturing information system (MIS) within a manufacturing organisation often forms part of the strategic ap-proach to satisfying these objectives. This paper
"rst introduces the concept of manufacturing stra-tegically driven analysis of MIS system require-ments. It is pointed out that in order for a MIS to be able to satisfy manufacturing strategic needs, a struc-tured approach needs to be followed which provides
the system's development with a strategic direction.
A framework with a set of procedures is speci"ed for
such purposes, starting from the initial identi"
ca-tion of objectives, through to the`develop-or-buya
decisions, and system design and implementation. The paper also describes how the proposed
ap-proach has been e!ectively applied to the case of a
typical modern precision engineering company, which heavily utilises computer numerically control-led (CNC) facilities and specialises in the making of aerospace and telecommunication components.
Through an analysis of the company's
manufactur-ing strategic requirements, the proposed proced-ures revealed a number of MIS related issues and features that helped to ensure a competitive edge.
2. Overview of the MSM framework
In order to deal with the complexity involved in the design and operation of modern manufacturing systems, attempts have been made to adopt a more systems approach to the problems concerned. For example, Wu [2] suggested an overall framework of manufacturing systems design and evaluation, with particular emphasis on systems analysis, sys-tems design, and syssys-tems methodology. It consists of the following keywords that relate to the main
areas of concern:systems(concepts and principles),
manufacturing(structures, technologies and
opera-tions), systems engineering (problem-solving and
structured decision-making) andmanufacturing
sys-tems(design and evaluation). Of particular interest
from the above is a prototype system model that is based on a range of key concepts of systems
think-ing, and a set of conditions necessary for the e!
ec-tive operation and control of manufacturing organisations. If one relates these well-proved sys-tems principles to the area of MSM, it becomes apparent that certain key elements are lacking in the
current theory and practice. In order to "ll in the
gaps, a conceptual MSM framework has been pro-posed that logically link a number of new and
previously established techniques together. Its overall structure closely follows that of the prototype system model to satisfy the prerequisite conditions for the
e!ective control and operation of a system. This
con-ceptual MSM framework speci"es the key functional
areas of MSM, outlines the contents and relation-ships within them, and then logically integrates these into a closed-loop to provide the basis for the devel-opment of a set of consistent parameters and proced-ures. It consists of three main functional areas: manufacturing strategy analysis (MSA), manufac-turing system design (MSD) and manufacmanufac-turing operations management (MOM), as shown in Fig. 1. Generally speaking, the nature of MSA ap-proaches can be summarised as a method of help-ing a company analyse its products, market and operations to identify areas of concern, and then setting objectives for these to be improved. How-ever, the implementation of strategic initiatives will rely on the management of change through MSD projects. The general aim of a MSD project can
therefore be de"ned as the determination of the best
structure of a manufacturing system in order to provide the competence needed to support strategic objectives, and this must be achieved within the resource and other constraints. In addition, the complete MSM cycle should also include the as-pects of manufacturing to plan, monitor and con-trol the production processes once the system is implemented and in operation. Finally, the
over-lapping between these main areas identi"es three
additional MSM functions: MSA/MSD interfacing, manufacturing system implementation and manu-facturing system status monitoring. The proposed
framework re#ects the view that a systems
ap-proach should be adapted to the design, implemen-tation and management of manufacturing systems. A systems thinking in the management of manufac-turing requires the development of a set of coherent strategic objectives and goals. A hierarchy of com-patible system structures should then support this hierarchy of objectives.
As can be seen, three principal manufacturing
architectures have been speci"ed through MSD
activities within this framework [3]:
f Thephysical (or manufacturing) architecture
Fig. 1. Overall functional structure of a MSM Framework (Source: [1]).
systems, including the machines, transportation and storage equipment and the other facilities required to support the manufacturing process.
This also describes the#ow of materials
through-out the system.
f Thehuman and organisational architecture
repres-ents the organisational structure and the interac-tions of the employees within the manufacturing system, including their roles, responsibilities and production tasks.
f Theinformation and control architecture
repres-ents the planning and control functions of the manufacturing system and the processes in-volved in decision making. This also describes
the#ow of data and information in all its
forma-ts, whether paper or computer based, through-out the system.
This structure provides an e!ective basis for the
clear clari"cation of the MSM domain. Each of the
blocks in the framework represents a particular
functional module where speci"c contents
regard-ing functionality, relevant techniques, parameters,
values and relationships, etc., can be speci"ed in
detail if required. For instance, the current develop-ment of enterprise resource planning (ERP), which inherits its nature from its forerunner, manufactur-ing resource plannmanufactur-ing (MRP II), is a typical example of the kind of IT systems used to provide an integrated information system for the planning and control functions required.
However, it has been observed from a number of unsuccessful cases reported in the literature, that purely technical-oriented ERP implementation is
one of the main reasons for failure [4}7]. There
seems to be a lack of a structured, strategically driven approach to assist companies mapping a function-oriented software into business-oriented
system. It is evident that di!erent industrial
com-panies have di!erent focuses on their business/
manufacturing function, but current ERP systems
have di!erent merits and weaknesses, when related
to di!erent industrial requirements [8]. The
pro-posed MSM framework provides a sound basis for a strategically driven analysis of manufacturing in-formation system requirements, giving a strategic
Fig. 2. Structure of the overall process.
direction for information system evaluation, imple-mentation and administration [9,10].
3. Manufacturing strategy and MIS
Competition in industry places manufacturers
under constant pressure to become more e$cient.
This forces the industry to evolve towards being more capable and productive. The key factors in
this evolutionary process are those that a!ect
a manufacturing company's competitive position,
such as product quality, cost of manufacture,
manufacturing lead time and #exibility. In order
that these fundamental elements can be addressed and acted upon, the whole manufacturing process needs to be analysed and an overall manufacturing strategy needs to be formulated based upon the
company's competitive standing. Once an overall
manufacturing strategy has been developed, the way in which the implementation is carried out in order to meet these strategic requirements becomes very important.
Therefore, a company should be able to identify the relevant options and the related MSD tasks, so that their MSD action addresses the key issues to achieve the improvement required. The MSA/MSD interface as shown in Fig. 1 aims to enable manu-facturing companies to make more informed deci-sions in this regard. Once the initial strategic
objectives are speci"ed, they generally provide
a qualitative and/or quantitative indication of the
di!erences between what the market requires from
the company, and the actual performance of the
company's manufacturing system. In addition, the
manufacturing criteria de"ned through the MSA
process will relate manufacturing strategy to
manu-facturing system by de"ning the system purpose,
system performance, system characteristics and sys-tem cost structure. Following these, a number of MSA/MSD link tables have been produced and
relevant MSA/MSD cause-e!ects relationships are
embedded in these tables. These are used as deci-sion-making aids to establish the linking process.
Fig. 3. Identi"cation of MIS requirements.
analysis is extended by adding a set of generic procedures to help companies identify key MIS and systems requirements based on the initiatives de-rived from strategic analysis. This strategically driven analysis approach aims to identify the key MIS requirements required in order to satisfy any designated competitive performance criteria. As summarised in Fig. 2, the whole processes can be
divided into three sections: the de"nition of
manufac-turing strategy aims and initiatives (starting with the manufacturing strategy analysis carried out against the competitive performance criteria, with the polar plots drawn for each of the customers/products,
leading onto the de"nition of the strategic aims
through a SWOT analysis), the identi"cation of key
MIS requirements (cross reference via tabulation drawn of competitive performance criteria verses key MIS requirements), and the decision on the choice of MIS design, structure and
implementa-tion (either through the purchase of an o!-the-shelf
system, commissioning of a bespoke system or by in-house development).
Each stage of the generic procedures will be
iden-ti"ed and presented in a simplistic way, allowing the
user to gradually progress through the stages. For instance, one of these requires a tabulation of the key MIS requirements and the corresponding strategic aims. This correlation is useful to serve as a
re-minder of which of the initially de"ned strategic
aims has been instrumental in establishing the par-ticular key MIS requirements. To help this process, a set of generic correlation between the competitive performance criteria and key MIS requirements, as shown in Table 1, has been developed. The various cross checkings involved are as illustrated in the
more detailed#owchart of Fig. 3.
4. Example of the MSA/MIS Analysis
The proposed approach has been e!ectively
ap-plied to Kenard Engineering Ltd., UK, which is a typical modern precision engineering machine shop, utilising computer numerically controlled (CNC) facilities and specialising in the making of aerospace and telecommunication components. It
o!ers a service from prototypes through to, and
including, production batches.
4.1. Market analysis and manufacturing strategic initiatives
The subcontracting market place has a reputa-tion of being tough and competitive. Although the reasons for subcontracting have not changed, many organisations now regard their subcontractors as an important extension to their own facilities, mak-ing the necessary steps to make them feel part of their team. This has resulted in organisations re-ducing their supplier base, by selecting the
com-panies that they feel can o!er the best service. With
this reduction of suppliers within companies'
sup-plier bases, come even more"erce competition, not
only within the same supplier chains, but also glo-bally with subcontractors wishing to be included within the supplier chain of an organisation.
Table 2
Summary of gap analysis results
Criterion Co. A Co. B Co. C Co. D Co. E Co. F Co. G
Design Flexibility Gap 10 70 80 70 !10 10 30
Quali"er P P Q Q W W Q
Volume Flexibility Gap 10 0 20 30 !10 !10 10
Quali"er W W Q Q Q Q Q
Cost/Price Gap 30 40 0 0 50 !10 !10
Quali"er P P P P P P P
Notes: W: Order winning, those which directly and signi"cantly contribute to winning business, regarded by customers as key factors of competitiveness; P: potential order winning, that have the potential to become order winning; Q: order qualifying, those aspects of competitiveness, where performance has to be above a certain level even to be considered by the customer [11].
summarises the performance gap for each of
Kenard Engineering's key customers (between
!100 and#100, with a positive number
imply-ing that manufacturimply-ing performance criteria has been exceeded and a negative number implying performance needs to be improved). In particular, it was revealed that for both delivery reliability and delivery lead times, almost all the results showed negative gap values. In this particular case, delivery lead times can be further divided into delivery lead times for production and delivery lead times for the manufacture of prototypes, both needing to be re-duced in order to remain competitive. However, it could be argued that it is more important to reduce lead times of prototype components, since these are nearly always needed in a hurry and that in many cases the supplier selected to manufacture the prototype is invariably the supplier that ends up manufacturing the production run. It is therefore
important to understand and to "nd ways of
im-proving delivery performance, especially for proto-typing operations. For instance, it is generally accepted that there is more involved in the prepara-tion prior to manufacture of a prototype compon-ent, than in the preparation of a component that
has previously been manufactured. There are time
bene"ts to be had by using CAD"le information
directly in the manufacturer's CAM system,
assum-ing that the customer allows this transfer of data
(which is more likely if he bene"ts from the
reduc-tion in lead-times and possibly in cost). By making such a gap analysis for each of the criteria the
company identi"ed its future strategic
aims/initiat-ives under each of the headings. A sample of these is shown in Table 3.
4.2. Key MIS requirements
To specify the requirements of the manufacturing
information system (MIS) which is able to a!ect the
de"ned strategic initiatives, it is essential that there
is a clear understanding of exactly what the stra-tegic initiatives are. This ensures that valid judge-ment is then made as to whether the strategic initiatives will be achieved by the proposed solu-tion.
In considering the manufacturing information system requirements that are able to satisfy stra-tegic initiatives, one should consider the appropri-ate MIS features for each functional group. Whilst
Table 3
Sample strategic aims/initiatives table Competitive
per-formance criterion
Strategic aims Strategic initiatives
Delivery reliabil-ity
Improve delivery reliability and predictability
Consider"nite capacity of person-nel Finite capacity of machine tools
Give operators explicit instruction Constant monitoring of job progress Create stability Eliminate unknowns through
im-proved planning
Implement preventative and plan-ned maintenance
Provide information to mini-mise time waste
Implement shop #oor MIS that provides all necessary operator in-formation
Information on tooling,"xture set-up written and visual prompts. In-tegrated information package Establish accurate standard
times
Implement MIS to monitor set-up and cycle times and to re establish standard times as necessary. Moni-tor delivery performance
Improve time estimations by refer-ring to historical manufacturefer-ring in-formation and collected data Eliminate time wasting Monitor machine tool
perfor-mance. Time and attendance data collection. Provide correct informa-tion
Full documentation of proven manufacturing methods(Not re-inventing the wheel)
Delivery lead times (produc-tion)
Reduce production lead times to less than that of competitors
Establish lead times with customer. Using customer CAD "les for drawing modi"cations to aid re-programming speed and accuracy
Reduce lead times by accurate ca-pacity planning. Reduce lead times by concurrent manufacturing Encourage customers to provide
any design change information direct from CAD system
Demonstrate speed and cost saving advantages
Demonstrate information integrity and reduced prove out time Eliminate time wasting Monitor machine tool
perfor-mance. Time and attendance data collection
Provide correct information. Tool-ing visual display
Delivery lead times (prototype)
Reduce prototyping lead times too less than that of competitors.
Using customer CAD"les to aid programming speed and accuracy
Recall historical data of similar parts or features
Encourage customer}supplier information exchange
Demonstrate bene"ts of early de-sign information
Value engineering (to reduce both time and cost)
the list of appropriate features for each of the func-tional groups as shown in Fig. 4 is not extensive, it does serve as a foundation from which to build:
f MIS features for the utilisation of plant and re-sources. The four basic MIS features that have been selected for improved utilisation of plant
and resources are shop#oor information display,
machine tool preventative maintenance, tooling
management and DNC"le management. These
features have been selected as they cover most aspects of plant utilisation. However, it is accep-ted that MIS features or requirements can be
added to inde"nitely until any given strategic
initiative has been satis"ed. Another reason for
the selection of these basic MIS requirements is
that they are broad in de"nition and cover
a wide range of material within the topic. For
instance, DNC "le management could include
programming and editing aids for the produc-tion of part programs as well as the ability to transfer part programs between machine tools
and the programming o$ce.
f MIS Features for the utilisation of collected data.
Fig. 4. Identi"cation of key MIS requirements.
aspects of data collection, and in this area too it is accepted that MIS features or requirements
can be added to inde"nitely until strategic
initi-ative has been satis"ed.
f MIS features for the additional system require-ments. The four basic MIS features that have been selected for additional system requirements are rapid response facility, information gather-ing, software integration and inspection audit and control. These MIS features have been used to illustrate the diversity of additional features that can be used. The selection of additional system requirements is seen as an over spill from the utilisation of plant and resources and the utilisation of collected data, rather than any
fea-ture which does not"t into these two categories.
In this case a MIS that has a rapid response facility has the features that are required to assist in providing a manufacturing rapid response ser-vice along with normal production controlling systems. Similarly, a MIS that provides informa-tion gathering can be explained as having the mechanism to manage the accumulation of data from information gained throughout the produc-tion life cycle for any given component. Al-though these MIS requirements are somewhat
diverse, and not at "rst glance obvious, they
serve to illustrate the purpose of this particular functional group.
It is next necessary to check each of the initiatives in turn to see if the basic MIS features are able, in
principle, to satisfy them, which would by de"
ni-tion have the desired a!ect on the relevant
competi-tive performance criteria. The overall#ow chart for
the veri"cation of key MIS requirements is shown
in Fig. 5. In the case of Kenard Ltd, this helped to establish a total of twelve key MIS requirements (Table 4). These act as a quick reference to identify the strategic initiatives that have instigated the par-ticular key MIS requirement.
By de"ning the key MIS requirements it allowed
the management to look at the manufacturing in-formation systems on the market and to evaluate them based on their strategic requirements, as illus-trated in Table 5 (this table is for the purpose of
demonstration only}it has no general implication
regarding the features of any speci"c system).
Through this analysis the company identi"ed
two major areas where key MIS requirements had not been met by any of the system available (rapid response facility and job costing) and hence the corresponding strategic initiatives that could not be directly supported. Due to the strategic implica-tions of these, the company made a decision to purpose-build a system that more closely sup-ported the requirements.
5. System implementation
The key MIS requirement list proved to be ex-tremely valuable in providing guidance to the de-sign and implementation of this system. In fact, the MIS has been designed and developed in such a way that each of the 12 requirements has been
Fig. 5. Flow chart for the veri"cation of key MIS requirements.
cross-checked to ensure that relevant modules and functions were built into the system, so that all the requirements would be satisfactorily supported [12,13]. The following provide an overview of the
systems structure, and examples to illustrate how some of the key requirements are supported by the system.
5.1. System structure
The analysis as outlined above helped Kenard Engineering to develop its MIS named KIDS (Kenard Information and Data-collection System), with the overall objectives:
f To set up a direct data link via modem, so that
drawing"les from customer's CAD system, can
be transmitted into the company's CAM system
without the need to edit or reconstruct drawing elements.
f To allow the transmitted CAD drawing elements
to be used to generate cutter paths ready for post-processing to any suitable and available CNC machine tool.
f To cut prototyping lead times, both by reducing
CNC programming time and by reducing the
time for CNC program veri"cation at the prove
out stage.
f To provide machine operators with job-related
information in a focused and user-friendly manner.
Essentially the KIDS system has evolved from the integration and utilisation of stand-alone software that was already being used in the every day operation of the company. The funda-mental essence of the KIDS system is to bring together existing and new software in an integrated way, resulting in the gathering and distribution of essential data and presenting such data in a fo-cused and task orientated way to satisfy the key MIS requirements. The overall KIDS system struc-ture is shown in Fig. 6. It shows the company database plus the proprietary software packages production scheduling system, CAM and the CAD system supplying data to the KIDS system. In addition, photographic information is supplied as a visual aid into the system. The gathering of
shop-#oor information in the form of machine tool
Table 4
Key MIS requirements verses strategic aims
Key MIS requirements Strategic aims
Shop-#oor information and display Promotion of information availability throughout the manufacturing process Improvement of small batch handling through reduction of programming prove out time
Improvement of small batch handling through set up time reduction Encourage customers to provide any design changes direct from CAD Eliminate time wasting
Improved delivery reliability and predictability Provide information to minimise time waste
Quality standards to be improved above that of competitors thus safe guarding reputation of quality
Data collection and data monitoring Accurate and e$cient collection of manufacturing cycle time and all other manu-facturing costs
Accurate and e$cient performance monitoring
Improved method for the preparation of quotations through historical informa-tion
Reduce machine down time while waiting for inspection of"rst o!
Establish accurate standard times
Rapid response facility Promotion of information sharing between customer to suppliers Reduce production lead times to less than that of competitors Reduce prototyping lead times to less than that of competitors Information gathering Promotion of information sharing between customer to suppliers
DNC"le management Improvement of small batch handling through reduction of programming prove
out time
Inspection audit and control Accommodate customer quality requirements in an e$cient and cost e!ective way Quality standards to be improved above that of competitors thus safe guarding reputation of quality
Reduce machine down time while waiting for inspection of"rst o!
Tooling management Provide information to minimise time waste
Job costing Costing implications for splitting and joining of batches
Accurate and e$cient collection of manufacturing cycle time and all other manu-facturing costs
Improved method for the preparation of quotations through historical informa-tion
Preventative maintenance Create stability
Software integration Promotion of system integration within organisation Promotion of system integration with all customers
Accurate and e$cient collection of manufacturing cycle time and all other manu-facturing costs
Machine tool performance monitoring Establish accurate standard times Eliminate time wasting
Improvement of small batch handling through set up time reduction
Accurate and e$cient collection of manufacturing cycle time and all other manu-facturing costs
Delivery monitoring Improve delivery reliability and predictability Establish accurate standard times
5.2. Management and utilisation of plant and resources
This section illustrates KIDS' ability to satisfy
some of the key requirements under this heading.
For example, when "rst deciding on the way in
which information should be accessed and dis-played, it was considered important that the user found the system easy to operate and understand, as well as providing readily assessable relevant
Table 5
Example of system evaluation according to key requirements Key MIS requirements Mori Seiki
MSC 518
Dialog Dlog. ERT Seiki GNT DNC Max
Alta systems real vision
Tech systems Shop-#oor Information
display
Photographs displayed @ @ @ @
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
information to the task in hand, so that the user
would have more incentive to use the`newasystem
if system provided useful information in a logical
and e$cient way.
Traditionally, Kenard Engineering and most manufacturers of machined mechanical compo-nents have issued job cards/route cards, as detailed as required, with each batch of components
laun-ched on the shop#oor. Within Kenard Engineering
this paper document had evolved from carrying basic instruction for what were essentially basic
jobs, for example,&rough and"nish turn complete',
to providing more sophisticated information. It was decided that the MIS would mimic some of the traditional approaches, both in operation and in visual presentation, This would allow the operator of the system to feel immediately at home, and able to relate with the proposed MIS system. By ad-opting this approach the traditional Kenard job card has been used as the front menu for obtaining focused task-centred information required to sat-isfy the management and utilisation of plant and resources. Hence, the system has been designed so as to provide the following information:
f Job cards}manufacturing documentation.
f CAM information } cutter paths, feeds and
speeds.
f Photographs}component and "xture
recogni-tion.
f Drawings }stage manufacturing drawings and
"nal drawings.
f Scheduling information}machine work-to-lists
and forward visibility.
f Machine tool information}capacity, achievable
tolerances.
f Tooling information}tools required, cutter life,
feeds and speeds.
f Part Programs}proved or unproved"les, recent
edits.
The component job card, taken from the database, acts as the menu for the selection and displaying of information. This simple approach to information selection via the job card has been readily accepted by all users, and has allowed the system to evolve when information from other sources has been integrated.
5.3. Management and utilisation of shopyoor collected data
Four of the key MIS requirements that are listed
under management and utilisation of shop-#oor
collected data are data collection and data monitoring, delivery performance monitoring, ma-chine tool monitoring and job costing. All of these key MIS requirements rely on receiving
informa-tion from the shop #oor. Receiving accurate
in-formation from the shop #oor is equally as
important as providing accurate information to the
shop#oor. It could be argued that receiving false
form information from the shop #oor by way of
Fig. 6. Overall structure of KIDS.
Fig. 7. Visual display of machine tool monitoring.
overall manufacturing function than supplying in-adequate information, since false information re-ceived could lull the operator into a false sense of
security. Consequently, shop #oor data collection
and monitoring has been designated as a key MIS requirement.
In particular, delivery performance measuring is seen as the overall measure of delivery reliability within the company. The seven companies that participated in the Kenard Engineering customer
survey each monitor their suppliers in di!erent
ways. On one extreme some customers appear not to be monitoring their suppliers at all, and on the other extreme some customers have fairly complex ways in which they measure delivery performance, the results of which are taken seriously. In most cases information required for delivery perfor-mance measuring can be obtained from the com-pany database, since information such as date of order placement, due date and customer date de-livered are readily available for every job. However,
in a particular case the way in which the customer's
suppliers are o$cially monitored is complex,
in-volving additional information to be retrieved from the database. At this stage only basic delivery per-formance information has been made available within the KIDS systems. This information has been obtained from the company database and then entered into the KIDS microsoft jet engine database where delivery monitoring parameters
that are speci"c to each customer are displayed.
So far as the machine operational data are con-cerned, the system collects, in real time, and dis-plays machine tool cycle times in the form of a Gantt chart, together with the relevant job card and if necessary a photograph of the component being machined (Fig. 7). The Gantt chart can be seen for one particular machining centre and the
cycle time length of three di!erent pallets is
dis-played. This display can be called up on any of the KIDS workstations either on or away from the
Fig. 8. KIDS visual display of costing/calculation menu.
monitored to see if the machine tool is operating, and operating times compared with the standard times that have been set. It is also possible to check the same information from a remote location away from the manufacturing facility through the use of a modem.
A related requirement to the above job costing. The ability to be able to calculate the cost for manufacture of a component is paramount in the subcontracting manufacturing environment. A sys-tem for the initial cost estimation that is accurate,
consistent, e!ective and quick, is important when
dealing in a competitive market environment.
Equally, to be able to e$ciently collect the data
necessary to be able to accurately calculate the true manufacture is important. Job costing which en-compasses both the initial estimation of the cost of component manufacture and the calculation of the actual cost of manufacture upon completion, has
been identi"ed as a key MIS requirement for
Kenard. The KIDS costing system has been de-signed to enable the user to retrieve historical data from the company database. This can include past
job cards of manufactured components identifying the equipment used at that time together with the standard time and actual time taken for each op-eration. This together with stored photograph and
drawing"les when available, enables the user to use
the system as a historical reference, proving ex-tremely useful for cost estimation of similar compo-nents. Manufacturing instructions of all parts made are broken down into individual operations. When completed, these instructions are stored/archived and can be recalled to reveal the associated cost of each individual operation calculated. This is parti-cularly useful for the cost estimation of new parts that have similar features or characteristics to parts machined in the past, as shown in Fig. 8.
5.4. Additional system enhancements
A particularly important strategic requirement was the ability to provide a rapid response facility for prototyping services. With time to market pres-sures, early design of component parts are needed for evaluation. Typically, in the early stages of
Fig. 9. KIDS shop-#oor information and display (rapid response facility).
development small quantities of parts, sometimes
only one o!, are required urgently to evaluate
be-fore proceeding with the next development stage. The pressure is on for the designer to produce a drawing of the part as quickly as possible and the manufacturer to make it as quickly as possible.
The KID system handles the rapid response in-formation transmitted from customers through
a process called`information chaina. The customer
provides three-dimensional CAD"les in IGES
for-mat of the component part that is required by rapid
response, via an Internet service provider. The"le is
viewed on the Kenard CAD and price and delivery is given to the customer. If necessary KIDS Costing could have been used for this purpose. Once a price and delivery has been agreed, the relevant drawing
"le is copied from CAD system to the CAM system.
At this stage material is obtained and if necessary
the CAD "le is plotted. Because prede"ned
para-meters have already been set, all drawing tolerances
are known together with material speci"cations
and surface "nishes etc. The relevant pro"les are
captured within the CAM system and cutter paths
are simulated. A tooling list is automatically
gener-ated within the CAM database and identi"cation
numbers assigned. Once the CAM used is happy
with the cutter path simulation, the CAM "le is
postprocessed for the designated machine tool on which the component will be manufactured. Con-currently, customer order details are entered into the Company database and a production engineer
writes the component job card, which is identi"ed
as a rapid response job. The production engineer decides on how the component will be manufac-tured, assigning the number of operations, the ma-chine tools to be used and estimating the standard time for each operation. If the appropriate machine tool is available the machine tool operator can be alerted and the KIDS system interrogated the to
"nd the rapid response job card. At this stage there
should be on the system, a detailed manufacturing description ( job card), the customers drawing, a tooling list, a cutter path simulation, and the part
program"le which has been identi"ed as an
unpro-ven "le. By using such a facilities, together with
Table 6
Component life cycle verse information gathering Customer
component life cycle
Typical batch size Customer
response/requirements
Manufacturers response/requirements
KIDS
Prototype 1 CAD"le Rapid response value
engineer
Display prototype job card Display cutter paths Display prototype drawing Display initial tool list Certi"cation. 3 Revised CAD"le Quick response Display revised job card
Display revised cutter paths Display drawing
Display revised tool list Display photograph of part Pre-production 10 Revised CAD"le Re"ne manufacturing
methods
Display revised job card Display revised cutter paths Display revised drawing Display revised tool list Display photograph of part Display"xture photograph
Production 20 Cost justi"cation Optimise manufacturing
methods
Display optimised job card Display optimised cutter paths
Display drawing
Display optimised tool list Display photograph of part Display"xture photograph Display stage drawings Display critical dimensions
Increased prod. 50 Decrease cost Additional optimisation As above plus:
Display"xture set up Information on production problems
Inspection history
Decreased prod. 20 Maintain cost Reduce set up times As above plus:
any optimisations made during full production.
Spares 5 Reluctant price increase,
no manufacturing details
Recall manufacturing methodology
All past information held within KIDS
lead times can be reduced signi"cantly, thereby
playing an important part in helping customers to reduce the time their designs are used in the market place. Fig. 9 shows a typical component that has been manufactured under the rapid response facil-ity, showing a graphical display of cutter, a cutter path, the job card, together with the part program
"le (unproven) and the customers drawing of the
component.
When a component is "rst manufactured,
in-formation is gathered in the form of CAD"les or
drawings from customers, from which a job card is written etc. The same is true if the component is manufactured under normal conditions other than the rapid response facility. With components that start as development components, it is hoped that pre-production and then production runs will follow. It is recognised that as the product
matures and with the experience of various produc-tion runs, continuous improvements to manufac-turing techniques can be introduced. But in order to do so, information needs to be gathered and
re"ned as the components pass through their
respect-ive life cycles. Table 6 shows typical information gathering and displays the various stages of a
cus-tomer's component life cycle on the KIDS system.
6. Conclusion
Demands on manufacturing industry to provide
quality, #exibility and to reduce costs have
put pressures on manufacturing companies to im-prove productivity. These demands, coupled with computer hardware and software advances, have encouraged MIS development. As a result, the role and importance of MIS within the manufactur-ing environment have changed dramatically in re-cent years. However, the initial design of such a system must be very carefully considered, because the way in which it is structured and organised will
have a profound e!ect on the way in which
in-formation can be delivered and utilised to support
the company's strategic aims. This paper has
attempted to address the key question of how to logically link the strategic and MIS requirements. The application of the proposed approach has helped the case company to develop an integrated
system to e!ectively support its strategic intentions,
which has enabled the company to: improve proto-typing quality and lead time, by down-loading
directly engineering information from customer's
CAD system to be used to generate cutter paths ready for postprocessing; improve cost control by providing on-line data collection and
real-time analysis; and increase operational e$ciency
by providing operators with job-related informa-tion in a focused and user-friendly manner. Due to its success, the system was given the UK Machinery Award for Innovation in Production
Engineering, for being `the most innovative
application of computer technology in the
manu-facturing environment [14]a.
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![Fig. 1. Overall functional structure of a MSM Framework (Source: [1]).](https://thumb-ap.123doks.com/thumbv2/123dok/3116782.1378618/3.544.97.417.55.300/fig-overall-functional-structure-msm-framework-source.webp)
