Production management issues for the next century

In the mid 1960s, production management underwent dramatic changes in its concepts and systems by turning to scientific management theories. Integrated Manufacturing System (IMS) was developed and received unanimous recognition as the manufacturing structure. With time, the ideas of Material Requirement Planning (MRP); Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM); Communication Oriented Production Integrated Control Systems (COPICS) were developed. These integrated systems were designed as working systems, therefore with a strong consideration to reliability. Unfortunately, with all the scientific and logical foundations, the implementation of these systems was not a successful venture. In retrospect, these systems were premature, as the implementation tools, e.g. computer hardware and software, could not support the system requirements. The systems relied on integration of data from all sources, administrative, graphics, CAD and CAM. Such integration called for a strong communication technology and data base organization which were not available at that time. To design a practical system, the developer compromised with the objectives. Instead of constructing a working system, they turned to information systems, which means that the user may pose an inquiry and the computer will retrieve the required data. What to do with the retrieved data and how to evaluate its reliability is the user's responsibility. Today, the above technologies are available, and practically the initial production management concepts may be implemented. However, the trend of compromising between manufacturing needs and computer science capabilities continued and is the basis of the magnificent production management systems that are proposed today. It is proposed that for the next century, production management systems will supplement today's systems with the working concepts that were neglected in the past due to inappropriate computer hardware and software. Therefore, the following issues are proposed for the next century: (1) Improve CAD systems; (2) Complete the research on process planning; (3) Incorporate technology into production management; (4) Introduce reliability checks to the Information Technology.