Task-centered manufacturing information system: structure and application

Demands on manufacturing industry to provide flexibility and to reduce costs have put pressures on manufacturing companies to improve productivity. These demands, coupled with computer hardware and software advances, have encouraged manufacturing information system (MIS) development. As a result the role and importance of a MIS within the manufacturing environment has changed dramatically in recent years. An understanding of the new requirements is essential. In particular, traditional ways of providing manufacturing information to the shop-floor has not necessarily been task related. Rather, general information were made available but needed to be found or located as and when required. Although this has satisfied the requirements of normal operations, there are a number of problems associated with this form of documentation and display. The physical separation of the processes and their descriptions, the procedures, the poor user friendliness, the high maintenance efforts and the inability of the documentation systems to effectively capture process "know how" are some of the key problems. These have placed limitations on the use of traditional approaches. As an attempt to improve the situation, this paper discusses the structure of a task-centered, multi-media (TCMM) manufacturing information system which aims to provide a working environment to help the user collect, select and present manufacturing data according to the specific needs of managers/operators. With a task-centered user interface and an integrated computer-based training (CBT) module, such a system can be used at various levels within the organization both as: A reference library to provide information such as products data and operational procedures; A task-centred, interactive system to help carry out on-line operations, and; A computer-aided training tool to train the company's managers/operators. Furthermore, its structure as a "knowledge repository" should lend itself to grow and adoptive, as the company's product ranges and manufacturing processes progress through time. A number of intranet-based TCMM implementation are also discussed to illustrate its industrial application.