Customer specification configuration and operational issues in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Summary form only given. Basic computerized business system requirements for SMEs lie in the areas of financial planning and control, product data management, manufacturing planning and usually some simple computer-aided-design. This paper describes the relationships and integration needs between these systems dependent upon the complexity of customer specification requirements and manufacturing and procurement requirements. For SMEs, the potential benefits of fully integrated computerized business systems are far outweighed by the increased operational complexity brought about by their excess functionality. Management time spent grappling with over complex systems and procedures is nonvalue-adding and wasteful. More appropriate levels of functionality can be obtained from discrete off-the-shelf packages, particularly if the degree of business system computerization is related to the complexity of operational activities. This paper has considered how basic business system computerization needs relate to three fundamental operational tasks: (1) configuring products to customer specifications; (2) defining and executing manufacturing and process plans; and (3) generating procurement requirements.