Expert systems in production management: An assessment

Abstract

AbstractOver the last several years expert systems (ES) have gained almost sensational interest. Within business administration, production management might be one of the most fruitful application areas for ES. There already exist a number of interesting pilot systems, and reports of research projects are beginning to appear in the literature.The main goal of this study is to identify systematically those areas in production management where an ES approach might be most promising. This is important to both researchers and practitioners because it helps pinpoint where research and development resources would be best allocated.In this article the authors provide a taxonomy for production management activities. They then combine this taxonomy with a well‐known list of eight “expert tasks” to provide what they call an “applications map” to guide the discussion.After discussing existing research efforts and potential production management applications of expert systems, the authors employ a Likert scoring procedure to quantify their subjective ratings as to problem importance, potential for improved solution, and ease of development, for expert systems development efforts in a given production management decision situation.One conclusion here is that the applicability of expert systems to production management appears to be broadly based. This is particularly true for what the authors have labeled as “technological” activities. An interesting finding is the apparent lack of applicability of expert systems to inventory management. The authors found no existing system or research proposals applying expert systems to inventory management. Finally, systems that combine technological with logistical knowledge seem to be a fertile (but difficult) application area for ES.