Project-oriented management of batch plants. Information system design

Abstract

Intense competition and rapid environmental changes are revealing severe limitations in the effectiveness of the hierarchical and functional-oriented management system currently used by the vast majority of batch manufacturing industries. A project-oriented enterprise model of batch plants is proposed here. Each project is seen as an autonomous, temporary entity within the management system, in which different types of expertise are combined to achieve a concrete goal or deliverable (e.g. completing a given order, product development, maintenance program, etc.). The cornerstone for successfully implementing this type of project-based organization is the design of an information system backbone that favors a decentralized, yet effective decision structure. To achieve this, an integrated design approach which combines a systems perspective describing the organizational complexity resulting from the.multifunctional nature of projects with an analytical viewpoint emphasizing the structure of product recipes, equipment capabilities and human competencies (skills and knowledge) that are required for batch plant management is proposed. This integration is crucial to the establishment and widespread accessibility of enterprise memory, namely accumulation, adaptation and use of best practice. It is argued here that these capabilities need to be built-in as part of the information system design. A prototype implementation of the proposed design in Project 98™ is conceptually discussed.