Abstract

Information systems in manufacturing are traditionally based on a three layer architecture consisting of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a manufacturing execution system (MES), and the shop floor IT. Increasing requirements on flexibility and adaptability are a strong driver for more open architectures, targeting a closer integration of ERP and the manufacturing floor. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips will play an important role in this transition – provided they are tightly integrated into existing legacy architectures. Modern supply chains require in particular (i) flexible mechanisms to forward customer orders to the manufacturing floor, (ii) tools to integrate business processes of cooperating vendors in a highly dynamic fashion, and (iii) RFID infrastructures that collect and filter logistic and shop floor data, then feed them into strategic IT components. This talk presents related lessons from six case studies conducted with small and medium-size automotive and electronic suppliers.