COORDINATION OF SME PRODUCTION THROUGH A COOPERATIVE NETWORK

Today, industrial production steps outside the boundaries of individua l enterprises, so new management approaches are needed to be able to c o-ordinate the work of the different manufacturing organizations. A ne w co-operative manufacturing network model is proposed for balancing t he production of SMEs, based on the holonic paradigm. The model has be en developed within the framework of an ESPRIT project by four countri es. The paper describes the main modules of the model and briefly intr oduces an application under realization in Hungary, in an agricultural SME network. (C) 1998 Chapman & Hall.