Integrated Manufacturing Execution – Functional Architecture, Costs and Benefits

One of the challenges in manufacturing companies nowadays is to enableappropriate IT support of production planning and execution. Integrated solutionsneed to cover company‐wide and even cross‐company business processes (fromorder receipt to product distribution) and at the same time live up to thetechnological complexity of manufacturing processes on the shop floor. The problemis even aggravated in industries, such as the automotive industry, which arecharacterized by numerous, strongly diverging manufacturing processes and highlyversatile products. What such manufacturing companies need is an integrated,consistent view along their entire value chain, allowing for optimal utilization ofcapacities and closing the gap between business and manufacturing processes....