452 Getting Started
452 Getting Started
452 Getting Started
INVESTMENTS ON IT AND
ITS IMPACT
Implementation of the microprocessor in computers and industrial controllers began in the 1970s and early 1980s. The resulting productivity gains occurred with a time lag of two decades.
In the 1990s, the number of companies investing in enterprise-
The efficiency of resource use within companies, The relationship between companies and their suppliers and customers, The business strategies adopted by companies that use IT as a competitive tool.
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A LITTLE HISTORY
Thirty years ago, IT was looked upon as just another labor saving tool, like any other form of mechanization. Information Systems (IS) were used in the bookkeeping and payroll functions, where computers were substituted for accountants in maintaining and summarizing financial records. In production operations, automatic control of processes based on analog electronics was being replaced by digital controllers, such as programmable logic controllers.
Integration of operations first took place by expanding business applications to include order entry, purchasing, production planning and inventory control. Managers began to focus on company processes as interrelated groups of activities across which information could be shared. On the manufacturing shop floor, developments in LANs provided the technology for gathering data from digital controllers and sensors and transmitting it to factory databases for analysis of factory operations.
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The emphasis was placed on organizational redesign. Several companies emerged with software solutions for managing industrial enterprises. These products crossed the boundaries between management functions, shop floor functions, and warehousing and distribution functions, such as supply chain management systems. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software industry was born.
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Example : Some packaged food manufacturers monitor their customers inventory positions in real-time:
Checkout counters debit inventory using bar code scanning, Inventory levels can be monitored by suppliers, Suppliers can then anticipate the need for a new shipment of
The use of IT motivated a strategy of flexible manufacturing operations a change in enterprise organization: e.g.
Make-to-order environment, such as that of Dell Computer, where
the Internet allows the customer to tailor the product to his or her own specification on-line.