Collaborative Manufacturing and Commerce

Operations and material management              

                                Assignment
                                        On
  Collaborative manufacturing and commerce

                    Collaborative manufacturing and commerce

Collaborative manufacturing
The need for coordinating distributed manufacturing operations is greater than ever. Whether driven by the disappearance of inventory buffers as supply chain improvements kick in, because acquisitions need to be brought into the fold, or because of global expansion and competition, manufacturers are increasingly seeking solutions to the problem of managing distributed or networked operations.
Manufacturers are feeling pressure today for a number of reasons. As supply chain improvements wring buffer inventory out of the supply chain, manufacturing is increasingly on the critical path to customer satisfaction. In order to perform, operations personnel must see all relevant demand information in time for efficient response. Enterprise level systems and managers need manufacturing data in real time. Regulatory compliance requires documented, reliable processes. Lack of collaboration across organizational and business boundaries can lead to redundancy and higher costs.
Meanwhile, performance expectations are higher and companies are recognizing that in order to improve, they must understand and often automate their cross-functional business processes.
Collaborative Manufacturing Management (CMM) is the practice of managing the key business and manufacturing processes of a manufacturing enterprise within a collaborative value network. CMM builds upon a collaborative infrastructure, business process management services and real-time strategic business management tools. It leverages critical applications, production systems and enterprise information, to maximize the responsiveness, flexibility and profitability of the manufacturing enterprise. For many manufacturers, especially larger...