Future Manufacturing Systems Towards the Extended Enterprise

Manufacturing research has been focused on point solutions and technology-driven solutions, These have not delivered the step changes in performance needed, nor have they been adopted by wide sections of industry so the total business benefit resulting has been modest. The authors propose that manufacturing research must now place greater emphasis on total manufacturing business systems development. Coupled with the integration and communication technologies now becoming available this is the best way to enable manufacturers to realise the competitive gain demanded by the market place.The primary pressures to which manufacturing will be subject are detailed. These are encapsulated in the concept of customer-driven manufacturing business systems. In these systems the customer increasingly becomes an integrated part of both the business systems and the engineering systems of the enterprise. Key product and process technological advances, environmental, and market place developments are described. Probably most significant are the changes in the value chain now emerging which transform manufacturing business systems and overturn both conventional manufacturing strategy and existing manufacturing metrics. The institutionalisation of the Extended Enterprise is one of the most tangible and has far reaching outcomes. This will involve major structural changes in business organisation. The basis of partnership within the Extended Enterprise is not yet well understood but alternative operations models are likely to be industry and market sector specific. Concurrent Engineering is becoming accepted but understanding of best practice on how, when and in what order to implement it is needed. The extension of tools to embrace environmental issues could offer significant benefit to small and medium sized enterprises. The appraisal of manufacturing business options must be developed to match the changes in the business operations environment described above.