Search

As the profits of manufacturing enterprises come under ever increasing pressure, the transformation of the enterprise development mode becomes urgent. The implementation of modern manufacturing services (MMS) helps to improve an enterprise's profits and enhance its competitiveness and has become one of the best ways to transform and upgrade enterprises. The implementation of MMS needs a methodology to guide evaluation of an enterprise's current service development phase and level. In this article, first a universal Enterprise Manufacturing Service Maturity Model (EMSMM) was proposed, which contains four service phases and two service levels. Second, a building methodology for the EMSMM for a specific industry was put forward. Third, an evaluation methodology for enterprise MMS phases and levels was provided. Finally, the adoption of these methods by a Chinese manufacturing enterprise was described. The results show that the EMSMM can provide effective scientific decision-making for an enterprise's current...

To meet the demands of the enterprise models for the various application systems, an enterprise modelling method supporting model extension is proposed in this paper. In this method, first, the model is classified into three meta-model levels: core level, basic level and application level. The core-level meta-model describes some core conceptions of enterprise modelling. The basic-level meta-model extends the core level on the base of the some current modelling methods to meet the generic needs of the application system. The application-level model can build the elements and their attributes extensions to meet the needs of the different systems according to extension mechanism. The model of each level and the extension mechanism are discussed in detail. Furthermore, a method is given to guarantee the consistency of the extended model. Also the modelling process of this method is specified. This method is flexible and can meet the various modelling demands. An application example is provided to confirm the...

A manufacturing enterprise is a complex hierarchical entity with multiple components that are essential to the success of the firm. Such an enterprise must implement successful strategic and tactical policies at the various levels of the organization. High-level executive strategies determine long-term investment policies, while lower level decisions affect short-term operations. This research models a manufacturing enterprise and implements the model in a competitive simulation game. The simulation links various decisions made at different levels of the enterprise to its advancement. The simulation is designed to operate in a competitive environment that includes multiple enterprises, depending on the number of users participating in a given exercise. Accurately representing a manufacturing enterprise in a concise simulation model has many challenges that must be overcome. This paper discusses relationship models used to link enterprise factors, as well as methods for aggregating various factor influences. Furthermore, two types of simulation methods and their application to modelling such an enterprise are discussed. These methods include analytical based simulation and discrete-event simulation. A methodology for creating a model that includes both types is presented and a technique for linking the two methods is provided. The methodology is demonstrated using numerical results.

This research explores the value of a new form of enterprise, namely the extended enterprise in the new economy. To become an extended enterprise, an enterprise with a traditional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system will need to upgrade or modify the existing system, and/or introduce Extended Enterprise Applications (EEA) into the system. This leads to the investigation on the potential benefits of using EEA. Interviews with EEA and ERP vendors and users are carried out to ascertain the concepts of an extended enterprise. The key results include the following: (1) manual operational tasks will be automatically managed by the EEA, and the system will even warn the enterprise if certain events did not occur or need to occur; (2) as supply chains become more integrated, and business processes are automated, the supply chain will require less day-to-day management; (3) the supply chain will be driven to manage exceptions, and the system will handle much of the ‘traditional operations’. This will mean mo...

Industry requires improved means of designing and changing its business processes. This paper describes an enhancement to state-of-the-art enterprise modelling techniques. Use of the approach is illustrated by generating and exercising simulation models that support the design and optimization of example processes.

The improvement of enterprises relies on the success of enterprise engineering and integration projects. Usually, these projects are complex and difficult to carry out. Human resources are, without doubt, one of the most essential key points in the success of such projects. Therefore, the role played by both internal staff and external consultants and professionals needs to be analysed and, based on this analysis, enabling methods and tools should be provided to the people involved in a project. This paper analyses some of the human aspects related to the application of engineering and integration projects in an enterprise, focusing on know-how and roles. This leads to the definition of human-related principles for the training of project developers and an eight steps approach to achieve them. It is hoped the paper will contribute to improving the efficiency, accuracy and reliability of enterprise projects. Based on the IE-GIP (Enterprise Integration-Business Processes Integrated Management, acronyms in S...

Changes occur very quickly within competitive business environments, and successful companies need to respond quickly by producing and delivering improved products and services, or by changing their business strategies and operational systems. Such changes may require redesign of resources, processes, strategies or organizational structures within the enterprise. Redesign is an expensive and risky process. This paper reports on how information models, databases and support tools, can be used to reduce uncertainty, by modelling the desired enterprise, and predicting its performance, before costly physical implementations are undertaken. Thus, management can gain valuable insight into the potential efficiency and performance capabilities of the redesigned enterprise, and minimize the risks associated with change. An overview is provided of an information-centred, multi-view design system to facilitate and accelerate the design or redesign of manufacturing enterprises. The design system includes both an info...

Existing public domain enterprise engineering methodologies provide a backbone of modelling concepts designed to maintain consistency between common engineering concerns during different life phases of enterprise systems. The literature reports industrial examples of the use of such a backbone of modelling concepts to structure formally and to support large-scale systems engineering. This has led to improved problem decompositions and improved reuse of models (and hence knowledge) describing large-scale systems integration issues, mainly within a single business. Generally, however, existing enterprise engineering methodologies and modelling backbones cover less well the development and reuse of models of collaboration and interaction between business units. This makes them less well suited to modelling certain dynamic aspects of partner interactions both between businesses and within a single business. Therefore, there arises a need for an extended backbone of enterprise engineering methods and modelling...

In order to sustain the business in a volatile environment, manufacturing enterprises today have a common requirement for an information system which provides total and reliable support to the business. In order to develop specifications which are most supportive, enterprise modelling architectures which appropriately reflect the operation and behaviour of the enterprise are needed. Modelling architectures are underpinned by an integrated model, which provides the language constructs and accompanying enterprise modelling methodology. It is proposed that a structured approach can be employed to develop integrated enterprise models which are able to accommodate new perceptions of the enterprise operation and organization, brought about by the development of new manufacturing concepts. The process is illustrated with an example to demonstrate how the structured approach can be readily applied for the development of an integrated enterprise model for information specification in a small company. Where possibl...