Manufactured products, Information resources management, Manufacturing resource planning, Automatic data collection systems, Technological progress, and Database management
Abstract
Data visualization now benefits from developments in technologies that offer innovative ways of presenting complex data. Potentially these have widespread application in communicating the complex information domains typical of manufacturing sequence management environments for global enterprises. In this paper the authors review the visualization functionalities, techniques and applications reported in literature, map these to manufacturing sequence information presentation requirements and identify the opportunities available and likely development paths. Current leading-edge practice in dynamic updating and communication with suppliers is not being exploited in manufacturing sequence management; it could provide significant benefits to manufacturing business. In the context of global manufacturing operations and broad-based user communities with differing needs served by common data sets, tool functionality is generally ahead of user application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
A simulation model of an in-line Flexible Manufacturing System has been built using the declarative computer programming lan guage PROLOG. The model is a vehicle for the study of dynamic responses of Flexible Manufacturing System control. Animation of system status and powerful user interaction are essential for this application.A simple but effective structure has been formulated in PROLOG as a core kernel of the simulator. The decision making process is modelled as a set of functional queues. Partitioning of the de cision functions permits modeling of complex peer-to-peer co ordinated decision making in non-trivial control environments. This offers many advantages over traditional manufacturing simu lation systems.The authors describe appropriate strategies for the realization of acceptable computational performance while retaining the powerful benefits of the PROLOG environment. The result is a practical operational system which features an incremental de velopment upgrade path, quick prototyping, fast and clearly understood code changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]
Manufacturing Engineer; August 1997, Vol. 76 Issue: 4 p161-164, 4p
Abstract
Manufacturing industry's success in reforming itself has exposed an underlying factor limiting further significant gains in competitive performance; the effective management of product data. The growth of computer-based systems has led to the existence of a large amount of product definition data, stored in various locations and formats. To achieve the proper management of these data, product data management (PDM) has evolved. The authors discuss the aims and benefits of PDM.
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