SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE FOR A MULTI-SITE PRODUCTION PLANNING AND CONTROL

In order to gain competitive advantage in the globalization today, effective management strategies need to be incorporated, especially in collaborating information sharing among multi-site manufacturing facilities. Information visibility within the supply chain is the process of sharing critical data required to manage the flow of products, services, and information in real time between suppliers and customers. If the information is available but cannot be accessed by the parties most able to react to a given situation, its value degrades drastically. We propose a software system, which incorporates mathematical models, user-interface and web application to solve the collaborative planning problems between multiple sites. Model validations proved the architecture to be robust and suggested cost savings through priority goal structuring. This paper offers a practical solution to real-life industrial problems often faced by the management of manufacturing industry in the world today.