Case studies based development of a rule-base for the specification of manufacturing planning and control systems

Research and development in Information Technology is increasingly turning to techniques popular in social science fields for the design, testing and validation of new systems. Case studies, in particular, are used as a powerful technique in all areas of system development and research. Manufacturing Planning and Control (MPC) systems are typical of such systems where the problems are no longer predominantly technical. One of the main barriers to the implementation of successful MPC systems is accurate identification of the true user requirements. This paper describes the use of multiple case studies for the development of a rulebased system for the specification of suitable MPC systems in manufacturing companies. The case studies are carried out in an iterative manner to enable the rule-base to be updated and re-tested with each successive cycle. The use of multiple case-study research cycles enables the accuracy and usability of the rulebase to be assessed as the research progresses. The rule-base comprises inputs (company characteristics and management concerns), rules (structured around reasoning) and outputs (recommended MPC system activities). It is shown that it can be expected to be greater than 90% accurate for any small to medium sized enterprise (SME) engaged in batch manufacturing.

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