This paper provides a systems engineering (SE) approach with which to
process manufacturing information through analysis of relationships by
evaluating what is important and where to focus resources. It is evid
ent that an engineer's view of achieving accuracy in the information,
integrity of data, and analysis of the results are highly critical in
today's manufacturing environments. Modern flexible, just-in-time, and
total-quality manufacturing systems (MS) demand design and developmen
t (D and D) of products and services that satisfy customers requiremen
ts, are timely, and are competitively priced. Traditionally. informati
on processing in manufacturing environments has relied on instinct, in
tuition, and anecdote to evaluate and improve. As global competition i
ncreases systems engineering departments (SED), now, must review their
work and ask objectively 'How are we doing?' and 'How can we do bette
r?' Thereby, instincts, intuition, and anecdotes in most cases serve m
ore as obstacles than as aids to understanding and improving the proce
ss. This paper addresses critical issues in analysis of manufacturing
process information by answering; 'Why measure the information process
?', 'Why does information process analysis work?', 'How can SED analyz
e manufacturing processes?', and 'How can information analysis enhance
productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and profits?'. (C) 1998 Elsev
ier Science S.A. All rights reserved.