Order and Information Management in Production Networks

Competition in the manufacturing industry has heightened in recent years, thus necessitating a far-reaching rethinking process in corporate management. Especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are in urgent need of concepts and solutions enabling them to successfully tackle the necessary shift towards manufacturing structures that are in line with market requirements. Today the advantages of decentralized, process and staff orientated manufacturing structures are beyond dispute. With regard to production planning and control, this means to commit planning and control activities into the hands of product-focused and responsible organizational units. Special regard must be paid to an extensive information supply on time to match the demands of the users and help solving problems. In consequence, it is necessary to abandon complex planning procedures and turn to simple, transparent methods and tools along with a decreased expenditure for data capture and maintenance.