TECHNOLOGY - THE ENABLER FOR TOMORROWS AGILE ENTERPRISE

How many of you can retrieve what you need when you need it? Do you ha ve ready access to critical real-time production information? How abou t historical information? Financial information? What about quality in formation? The information probably exists in many forms and at variou s locations throughout your organization - just not where and when you need it. A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) can be viewed as the glue that binds your business planning systems with your real-time pro cess control systems (Fig. 1). An MES manages manufacturing and produc tion operations according to your changing business plan and provides critical information feedback to facilitate the planning process. Key to understanding the requirement for information flow is understanding the relationships which exist between Business Planning Systems, MES and Control Systems. The functions often associated with MES are batch management, operations management, equipment management, materials ma nagement and quality and safety management. In today's rapidly changin g and highly competitive business environment, the need to quickly ada pt and respond to market opportunities while controlling manufacturing costs is critical to survival. As we adapt a high demand will be plac ed on the integration of planning, execution and control systems. This paper reviews the Distributed Control Systems (DCS) of the past and p resent, identifies changing business practices and new technology that will define the next generation of Open Control Systems (OCS), and pr ovides insight into the choices you can make today that model your MES solution for tomorrow.