Application of Information Technology in Agile Manufacturing

Abstract

Agility refers to the ability to produce and market successfully a broad range of low cost, high quality products with short lead times in varying lot sizes, providing enhanced value to individual customers through customization. Rapid changes in manufacturing have triggered structural changes in how companies are organized to create, produce, and distribute goods and services. The information-processing capability to treat large numbers of customers as individuals is permitting more and more companies to offer customized products while maintaining high volumes of production. The most prominent feature of the information world of tomorrow is the expansion of the cyber space. The emergence of information technology has made it possible for groups of companies to coordinate geographically dispersed facilities into a single virtual company and to achieve powerful competitive advantages in the manufacturing industry. This chapter argues that data mining and distributed object technology are significant tools to achieve manufacturing agility, especially where rapid distribution of information is a feature. The chapter also highlights the potential benefits of information technology (IT) applications, followed by a description of the information needs of a manufacturing system. The role of data mining and distributed object technology in supporting the information infrastructure of virtual organizations is also discussed. Finally, the chapter illustrates the application of IT in agile manufacturing is shown.