Jannes Slomp
Faculty of Management and Organization
University of Groningen P.O. Box 800
9700 AV Groningen, THE NETHERLANDS
Gerard J. C. Gaalman
Faculty of Management and Organization, University of Groningen P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherland
Jatinder N. D. Gupta
Dept. of Management, College of Business, Ball State University Muncie, Indiana, U.S.A.
This paper presents a step-by-step procedure for the design of the production control for flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). Previous research has showed that there is a definite need to improve the production control for many FMSs in practice. The proposed procedure consists of three main steps: (I) an analysis of the FMS situation and a specification of the problems to be dealt with, (II) the design of the production control hierarchy, and (III) the design of the decision support tools and an information system. Feedback loops complete the procedure.
The design procedure can be seen as a synthesis of theory and practice. The procedure is illustrated by a case study.