Operations Assistant and its application to material storage management

The Operations Assistant is an interactive decision support system designed to help manage a manufacturing facility. A material management version is described which analyzes the operation of gathering raw materials in a complex storeroom in order to insure that downstream assembly lines have the right material when they need it. The tool described has a user friendly interface and offers the necessary information for making decisions on the product entry sequences and work-in-progress reduction schemes. It can be applied to assembly shops, test areas, and storerooms. The general architecture of the Operations Assistant and how that architecture applies to material storage management are described.<<ETX>>