Task-centered manufacturing information system: structure and application

The present study addresses integrated manufacturing information systems (IMIS) and highlights importance of realizing ‘adaptability’ and ‘reconfigurability’ characteristics in the system architecture of IMISs, where engineering design for system adaptability is interested. This study develops a matrix-based probabilistic definition for the manufacturing information system (MIS) reconfigurability and proposes modularization of physical architecture of the system as an effective design solution for fulfilling system reconfigurability and adaptability requirements. To modularize the physical architecture, Design Structure Matrix (DSM) method is employed. Moreover, information axiom of Axiomatic Design (AD) theory is also utilized to develop helpful indicators for evaluating the adaptability characteristic for the architecture and support engineering designers to make sound decisions in design for adaptability. To verify the developed methodology, the MIS in a real case (Barez Industrial Group in Iran) is addressed and design of the physical architecture for this system is studied. A new optimally modularized design for the physical architecture of the MIS of interest is finally presented and examined. Results of the indicators reflecting reconfigurability and adaptability of the architecture indicate that the new proposed design of the concerned MIS is highly capable of coping with the rapidly changing manufacturing environment.

At the end of 1985 International Data Corporation (IDC) put the total worldwide industrial automation market at $11.3 billion, growing to $39 billion in 1990. If these figures are accurate, this growth is immense. But more interesting even than the growth of the market is the way the figures are broken down. This shows very clearly that, while robots, for example, are stuck at two per cent of the market in 1985 and 1990, manufacturing information systems — in other words the systems which move design, production and other data in and around the factory and its related offices — will grow from under a third to nearly 40 per cent of this much greater total market, a higher growth rate than any other part of the market.

Manufacturing information system is a dissipative structure system. It focuses on the research of the product information model in different phase of product lifecycle, and take the consuming time of establishing precise and integrated product information model as sequential parameter to describe systempsilas sequence and evolution direction. The dissipative structure theory and grey system theory are applied to establish the determination model based on grey relation entropy (GRE) and provide new evaluation methods for manufacturing information system as well as theoretical foundation for system optimization design and adjustment. The model was applied in the evaluation of CAPP system evolution in a company. The feasibility of the evaluation method and the model was verified by the results.

Technological Developments in Networking, Education and Automation includes a set of rigorously reviewed world-class manuscripts addressing and detailing state-of-the-art research projects in the following areas: Computer Networks: Access Technologies, Medium Access Control, Network architectures and Equipment, Optical Networks and Switching, Telecommunication Technology, and Ultra Wideband Communications. Engineering Education and Online Learning: including development of courses and systems for engineering, technical and liberal studies programs; online laboratories; intelligent testing using fuzzy logic; taxonomy of e-courses; and evaluation of online courses. Pedagogy: including benchmarking; group-learning; active learning; teaching of multiple subjects together; ontology; and knowledge management. Instruction Technology: including internet textbooks; virtual reality labs, instructional design, virtual models, pedagogy-oriented markup languages; graphic design possibilities; open source classroom management software; automatic email response systems; tablet-pcs; personalization using web mining technology; intelligent digital chalkboards; virtual room concepts for cooperative scientific work; and network technologies, management, and architecture. Coding and Modulation: Modeling and Simulation, OFDM technology , Space-time Coding, Spread Spectrum and CDMA Systems. Wireless technologies: Bluetooth , Cellular Wireless Networks, Cordless Systems and Wireless Local Loop, HIPERLAN, IEEE 802.11, Mobile Network Layer, Mobile Transport Layer, and Spread Spectrum. Network Security and applications: Authentication Applications, Block Ciphers Design Principles, Block Ciphers Modes of Operation, Electronic Mail Security, Encryption & Message Confidentiality, Firewalls, IP Security, Key Cryptography & Message Authentication, and Web Security. Robotics, Control Systems and Automation: Distributed Control Systems, Automation, Expert Systems, Robotics, Factory Automation, Intelligent Control Systems, Man Machine Interaction, Manufacturing Information System, Motion Control, and Process Automation. Vision Systems: for human action sensing, face recognition, and image processing algorithms for smoothing of high speed motion. Electronics and Power Systems: Actuators, Electro-Mechanical Systems, High Frequency Converters, Industrial Electronics, Motors and Drives, Power Converters, Power Devices and Components, and Power Electronics.

Intelligent manufacturing technologies, including databases, mathematical modeling, and information systems have played a significant role in process control, production management, and supply chain management in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) industry. However, their ability to process and utilize unstructured data, such as research and development reports, batch production records, quality inspection records, and supplier documents, is relatively weak. For text, images, language, and other unstructured data, generative artificial intelligence(AI) technology has shown strong potential for development in extracting information, extracting knowledge, semantic retrieval, and content generation. Generative AI is expected to provide a feasible set of tools for the utilization of unstructured data resources in the TCM industry. Based on years of research and industrial application experience in TCM intelligent manufacturing technology, this study reviewed the current situation of intelligent manufacturing in TCM and the utilization of unstructured data, analyzed the application value of generative AI in the TCM manufacturing process and supply chain, summarized four typical application scenarios, including intelligent pharmaceutical knowledge base/knowledge graph, intelligent on-the-job trai-ning, intelligent production quality control, and intelligent supply chain. Furthermore, this study also explained the data collection and processing, business process design, application potential, and value of each scenario based on industry demands. Finally, based on the integration of generative AI and TCM industrial models, the study proposed a preliminary concept of a smart industrial brain for TCM, aiming to provide a reference for the application of AI technology in the field of TCM manufacturing.

In this paper, the emerging trends in the manufacturing industry have been identified and explained for the first time, using the systems concept. The theme of the trends is moving from parts to wholes: from functional area optimization to manufacturing capability building, from sequential production to parallel production, and from economies of scale to economies of scope. All these changes have showed that manufacturing managers are more interested in considering manufacturing tasks as the responsibility of an entire organization rather than as the functional responsibility of a firm. An integrated information systems approach based on the general systems concept has been suggested to meet the challenge derived from the new trends. The integrated manufacturing information systems focuses on orchestrating objectives, actions and tasks of an entire organization to build up competitive manufacturing capabilities, achieve manufacturing excellence, and sustain a reasonable level of growth. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Factory technologies have evolved to incorporate a great deal of manufacturing flexibility. Programmable automation in the form of CNC and PLCs along with hardware innovations (quick-change tooling, for example) and various operator assist technologies enable a high level of shop-floor flexibility. Possibly, the most inflexible part of a factory is the manufacturing information system. Customized for manufacturers by system integrators, these systems are often large monolithic systems assembled around an ERP/MRP framework or a precariously integrated set of decision-support software tools with a patchwork of communications enabling information flow between them. On the other hand, cloud-based information service platforms such as those encountered in social networks and service brokers have seen rapid and multiple cycles of evolution resulting in a meteoric rise in their ability to handle increasingly large data scales and rates, while still maintaining their elasticity and flexibility. This rapid evolution of cloud-based information services has ignited a new era in the manufacturing industry as evidenced by emerging manufacturing cyberphysical system technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Cloud Manufacturing (CM). These technologies are part of the broader context of what is thought to be the unfolding fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0 or Digital Manufacturing). This revolution places at its core, connectivity, information, and machine-based intelligence to create a new paradigm for manufacturing that is highly flexible, scalable, responsive, and intelligent. This paper describes how we leveraged the newest advances in CPS, IIoT, CM, and distributed systems to create a flexible manufacturing information system infrastructure that separates information collection and distribution for decision-making functions. The first part of the paper introduces the architecture for a novel full-stack manufacturing infrastructure that is envisioned to facilitate and track the interaction between a manufacturing job, physical resources, and the software services (or apps) around them. We call this platform the Operating System for Cyber-physical Manufacturing (OSCM). In the second part of the paper, we introduce an event-based architecture for OSCM so that resource or transaction related events/data can be flexibly distributed to different decision-making/manufacturing software tools through an event/message exchange/bus. Further, such an architecture allows modularization and incremental development of different manufacturing software tools and services as new needs are identified.

A contingent cost analysis of alternative manufacturing information systems

Methods for the standardization of a manufacturing information system (MIS) software interface are put forward in this paper, the interface is described and test methods are raised, and CAD system application interface standardization is instantiated for explanation.

After the description of the underlying principles on which the “multiagentbased production control” technology and the “holonic manufacturing control” concept within the intelligent manufacturing system paradigm are based, this work proposes an approach that supports the design of agent-based manufacturing control systems for different industrial holonic manufacturing scenarios. The results of the application to a pilot cell at industrial level are very promissory, showing that the approach seems to be very suited in accommodating heterogeneous hardware and software components in both their manufacturing control and information system, and in integrating existing/legacy systems.KeywordsFlexible Manufacturing SystemProduction AgentLogical DependencyTransport AgentManufacturing ObjectThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

SummaryFerodo Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of disc brake pads and drum brake linings based in Derbyshire. In 1994, the company went live with an integrated MRPII system. This system met most of the requirements for the control of the manufacturing organisation. There were, however, some key areas of the business controlled using separate systems. It was recognised that because the control systems were not an integrated whole, this led to duplication of effort and more seriously, it was not possible to exploit synergy between the different databases, in particular the quality systems. This paper describes how the requirements for the manufacturing and quality functions were met using a single integrated information system. It describes the methodology used for determining the overall system structure as well as the detailed design issues. Finally, the paper reviews how a separation of core and peripheral systems can reduce overall complexity when implementing Manufacturing Systems.

Ship repair, as a technological "lesser brother" of shipbuilding, still contains major elements of manual labor. In the past years, ship repair and the conversion of ships and offshore structures came to rely increasingly on modern computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD and CAM) information systems for speedy generation of the required engineering information. An often-encountered problem is the lack of product information in electronic form or in any other form. Such information is needed for engineering of new parts for damaged or converted ships and platforms. In such cases one needs to build the virtual product model from the existing as-built object up to an engineering-detail level; hence, the terms "as-built modeling" and "reverse engineering." The paper presents the results of a multiyear project with the code name AMORES, which focuses on improving lead time and economic efficiency in ship and offshore platform repair and conversion in the Netherlands. Existing and newly developed photogrammetric measuring techniques were used to generate as-built models of double curved three-dimensional surfaces of ships and platforms. These were fed into standard CAD/CAM systems to engineer and manufacture new ship hull or platform parts to replace damaged areas. The main advantages of the new method are savings in lead time (measurements, engineering) and the replacing of costly manual labor by modern digital photogrammetry. The paper will focus on the new developments, the experienced difficulties, and the advantages of this new technique in ship repair.

The importance of file migration is increasing because of its potential to improve the performance of distributed office, manufacturing and hospital information systems. To encourage research in the file migration problem, the authors summarize accomplishments of researchers of the problem, provide a detailed comparison of file migration and dynamic file allocation problems, and identify important areas of research to support the development of effective file migration policies.

The article investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and digital transformation (DT) on corporate financial performance (CFP) indicators, as well as the moderating effect of DT on the relationship between CSR and CFP indicators. The study was conducted using Stata 17.0 software based on data (5709 observations) on 558 A-share listed manufacturing companies of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock for 2012-2021 (excluding financial and insurance companies, ST and ST* companies, as well as companies with incomplete data). The independent variable used in the modelling process is the CSR rating report of the Hexun website, indicators of which are reconstructed by dividing them into strategic CSR (shareholder responsibility, employee responsibility, customer responsibility) and altruistic CSR (environmental responsibility and social contribution). The dependent variable is 2 CFP indicators: return on equity (ROE) and TOBIN’s Q. The DT index is used as a moderating variable, for the calculation of which the texts of companies’ annual reports were segmented using the Python programming language and standardised data on the frequency of keywords in 4 dimensions: digital technology application, Internet business model, intelligent manufacturing and contemporary information system; the weights for each dimension index was determined using the entropy approach. The control variables are corporate assets (Size), financial leverage level (Lev), current ratio (Cur), firm growth (Gro), shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder (First) and technological innovation (RD) of companies. The study also considered the year and industry factors. To study the moderating effect of DT on the relationship between CSR and CFP indicators of companies in different situations, the grouping variables chosen were the ownership type (state-owned and non-state-owned companies), the enterprise lifecycle (cash flow portfolio method was used to identify its stages) and the degree of market competition (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index). The modelling is based on a fixed-effects regression model. The study found that both CSR and DT have a positive impact on CFP, and that DT moderates the relationship between CSR and CFP, indicating that integrating digital technologies with sustainable development strategies can enhance financial benefits. The study also highlights the importance of different dimensions of corporate social responsibility. A high level of digital transformation strengthens the promotion effect of strategic social responsibility on current and future financial success of companies. Meanwhile, the promotion effect of altruistic social responsibility on current financial performance is significant. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive moderating effect of digital transformation on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance mainly applies to private firms, firms in the mature stage, and firms with low market competition. The article offers practical advice for businesses seeking to use digital transformation to maximise economic and social value.

<div class="htmlview paragraph">Many manufacturing business practices and information systems are still designed around paper documents. These systems create and track paper documents that travel through the course of manufacturing, ending in the archive cabinets. Technology advancement and affordability enable the delivery of the paperless shop promised over twenty years ago. However, reengineering of business practices is required to take full advantage of the technology and eliminate the barriers created by paper. The reengineering effort should challenge traditional doctrines and encompass processes that extend beyond the boundaries of the shop floor, such as Quality Assurance and Process Planning. Besides eliminating paperwork, such process reengineering may include improvements to the user interface, streamlining of processes for natural and continual flows, elimination of non-value added steps, empowerment of the workforce, consolidation of processes, and improvement of quality. Companies do not re-implement their business systems often, and should not miss the opportunity for quantum leaps in performance from eliminating the paper on the shop.</div>