Internet based collaboration in the manufacturing supply chain

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Internet based collaboration in the manufacturing supply chain

D. Mourtzis *Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Patras 265 00, Greece

1. Introduction

Over the last decades the local economy has been transformedto a global and highly competitive economy. The globalization of the markets that came along with technological innovationsreshaped the value added chain in the global manufacturingnetwork [1] . Industries started to operate globally expanding thelimits of their business. The export of nished goods to foreignmarkets has been the dominating theme in the international tradeup to the 1990s and gained even more attention the last decade [2] .The decentralized manufacturing approaches, that have replacedcentralized practices, have evolved further, aided by the Internet,which coordinated the efforts of the manufacturing network [3] .Decentralized approaches for manufacturing have been studiedextensively [2,4] , showing their benet in delivery times comparedto centralized scenarios. Currently the competitiveness of acompany is mostly dependent on its ability to perform well indimensions of cost, quality, delivery, dependability and speed,innovation and adaptability to demand variations [5] .

Modern manufacturing companies, in order to improve theircompetitiveness on the market, need to establish efcient strategicco-operation with their business partners [6] . Whilst in theprevious decade, attention had been given to optimizing themanufacturing processes, now is the time for the supply chainfrom suppliers to customers [7] to be co-ordinated quickly andefciently. The supply chain management system aims at a fasterand more exible coordination among a company, its customersand its suppliers within the chain [8] . The supply chain comprisesgeographically dispersed facilities, where raw materials, interme-

diate products, or nished products are acquired, transformed,stored, or sold and transportation links that connect facilitiestowards the ow of products [9] .

The importance of a long-term relationship among amanufacturing rm and its suppliers has been emphasized inthe literature of supply chain management. The co-ordinationamong participants in a supply chain [10] is essential to such arelationship. To face the competition, companies have to establisha stronger, strategical and pro-active partnership. It is evident, thatin order for the collaboration among the companies to be achieved,the execution of business operations, based on intelligent forms of collaboration [11] should be improved. The results of more than 20case studies imply that smaller companies run the risk of beingpermanently excluded from integrating their logistics operationsin the supply chain. However, the advent of the Internet and theconcepts of electronic business, open up new perspectives forsmall- and medium-sized enterprises [12] . Strader et al. proposedan IT infrastructure framework for supporting management of electronic virtual organizations by utilizing Internet and Intranettechnology throughout the production life cycle [13] . Anotherapproach suggests modeling and analyzing the logistic inter-dependencies across supply chains, the understanding of whichenables the supply chains to better control their process reliability[14] . Agent based approaches are discussed for capacity allocationin distributed enterprises, characterized by complex organizationsand geographically distributed production capacities contended bymany product families [15] . Agent-based control systems havebeen developed later, based on real-time systems [16] , which areconsidered as a promising perspective for the industry. Themanufacturing environments are in great part characterized byuncertainty, whereas most production planning approachesassume perfect information and a static deterministic environ-ment [17] . Real-time schedule monitoring and ltering approaches

CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology xxx (2011) xxx–xxx

A R T I C L E I N F O

Article history:Available online xxx

Keywords:Management information systemSchedulingSupply chain managementXML

A B S T R A C T

This paper discusses the collaboration among manufacturing companies regarding planning andcoordinating their manufacturing activities. The analysis considers a real-life distributed manufacturingscenario. The suggested model facilitates collaboration among these networked organizations. This

model is implemented in the form of an Internetenabled software framework,offering a set of intelligentcharacteristics, including virtual organization, scheduling and monitoring. The main objective is tosupport co-operation and exible planning and monitoring across the extended manufacturingenterprise by utilizing information sharing. The software framework, is based on Internet orientedtechnologies and protocols, such as the Extensible Markup Language – XML for data exchange.

ß 2011 CIRP.

* Tel.: +30 2610 997262; fax: +30 2610 997744.E-mail address: [email protected] .

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CIRPJ-161; No. of Pages 9

Please cite this article in press as: Mourtzis, D., Internet based collaboration in the manufacturing supply chain. CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology (2011), doi: 10.1016/j.cirpj.2011.06.005

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1755-5817/$ – see front matter ß

2011 CIRP.

doi: 10.1016/j.cirpj.2011.06.005

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based on statistical throughput control have been described forrecognizing and evaluating the impact of disturbances and changesin production ow [18] . Currently production planning, which is amajor issue for a supply network is based on information owbetween autonomous enterprises, which is asymmetric and in partuncertain. Mainly this is attributed to the different goals of thestakeholders and their opportunistic stance [19] .

This paper discusses the dynamic collaboration among anetwork of manufacturing companies and focuses on planningand coordinating their manufacturing activities. A exible supplychain planning and monitoring model that facilitates thecollaboration of the networked organizations is discussed. Thismodel is implemented in the form of an Internet based softwareframework that utilizes the XML protocol for data exchange andintegration. The Java based implementation, supported by the webtechnology with the adoption of the XML standard for dataexchange assures a high degree of openness, modularity,interoperability and platform-independency of the developedsystem. Further to that, the proposed approach seems to be verysuitable for manufacturing small medium size enterprises (SMEs)owing to its low cost, reduced complexity, high adaptability andexpandability and ease maintenance, in comparison with othermore rigid approaches. The paper presents the overall concept andthe modeling approach as well as its implementation andapplication in a real-life manufacturing SMEs network. The data

is related to the plan and production status of the collaboratingcompanies.

2. The collaboration framework

This research work suggests an Internet based softwareframework that facilitates the coordination and planning of manufacturing activities. The web application is based on the socalled design patterns that allow reusability and maintenance of the web application. Specically, the Model–View–Controller(MVC) pattern is recommended to be used for interactive webapplications [20] . In Fig. 1 is presented the MVC implementationconcept.

In order for a high level of integration and automation in the

cooperation among the companies to be achieved, in the level of

data exchange, the eXtensible Markup Language – XML has beenadopted [21,22] .

2.1. Distributed planning and order monitoring

The coordination framework is based on the assumption thateach company plans its own production, considering the availabil-ity of its facilities, the workload and the information on due dates,based on a 4-level modeling approach of a manufacturing system[23] . This approach consists of factory level, job shop level, workcenter level and resource level as presented in Fig. 2. This model isexible and recongurable enough, to be adapted to the structure,characteristics and requirements of different types of manufactur-ing systems or production networks.

Corresponding to the hierarchy of facilities there is also ahierarchical break down of the workload consisting of orders, jobsand tasks [23] . This method is based on the generation of a set of alternatives for searching through the solution space. A set of threeadjustable parameters is used for guiding the search: themaximum number of alternatives (MNAs), the sampling rate(SR) and the decision horizon (DH). These parameters inuence thequality of the solution and the computational effort to make adecision. MNA controls the breath of the search; DH controls thedepth of the search, whilst SR determines the accuracy of theestimation of the alternatives’ consequences. The evaluation of thealternatives is made using different sets of criteria based on cost,time, quality and exibility. The method supports the developmentand incorporation of user dened decision making criteria, in orderto fulll specic objectives of the manufacturing systems ornetworks [21–24] .

The same procedure is repeated by every company thatproduces the individual components of a product. Fig. 3 representsthe plan of n companies, involved in the manufacturing of aproduct, namely company 1, company 2,

.

.

., company n in the formof n individual Gantt charts. For company 1, Task 11 is assigned onResource R11, Task 12 on Resource 12 and Task 1n on R1n . For Task11 and Task 12 there is some progress made and is depicted in the

shaded part of the task representation. In the same way, the tasksare assigned to the resources for every company. Scheduling of tasks in company 2 depend directly on the schedule of tasks incompany 1, Task 21 can start only if Task 1n has nished.

End dates of tasks in company 1, are start dates for company 2and so on until every company can schedule its production.Scheduling information of every company should be shared by theother companies depending on it.

2.2. Collaboration scheme

Each company shares planning information with its supplychain partners. Company n-1, based on the schedule of company n-2 is aware of the end date of the production, and based on the due

date

for

delivering

to

company

n ,

can

schedule

the

production

for

a

JavaBean Databasecall

callbrowser Servlet

JSP

send send

use

instantiate

Fig. 1. Model–Viewer–Controller implementation concept.

Factory

Job shop 1

Work-center 1.1

Resource 1.1.1 Resource 1.1.2

Work-center 1.m

Job shop nJob shop 2

Resource 1.1.k

...

...

...

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Fig. 2. The 4-level modeling approach of a manufacturing system or network.

D. Mourtzis / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology xxx (2011) xxx–xxx2

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certain time window. The individual plans are shared to thecollaboration module, which performs a sort of merging with theobjective to achieve a plan for all the cooperating companies. Theinformation shared is in an aggregated format, meaning that itincludes the starting and ending of jobs in every company, withoutsharing the information concerning the resources required forevery task of a job to be performed, as shown in Fig. 4 [21,25] .

3. Software system architecture and implementation

The approach discussed has been implemented in the form of asoftware system, namely that of the supply chain integration –SPIRIT. It consists of three modules that communicate by

exchanging data related to the plan and the production status of the companies that are collaborating. These modules are asfollows, Fig. 5:

Monitoring module (SPIRIT-M) collects information on theproduction status, the availability of resources and products,the scrap and the consumption of man-hours.

Planning module (SPIRIT-P) implements the planning andscheduling of manufacturing operations, based on a 4-levelhierarchical model. Scheduling is based on the techniques of operations research, the decision theory and the simulation forallocating resources to manufacturing tasks. The planning methodtogether with the 4-level production network modeling approach,is exible enough to adapt to changes and disturbances which mayoccur in a dynamic supply network, such as: the addition orremoval of partners and orders, highly customized products, lackof resources or lack of materials [24–26] .

Task 11

Task 12

Task 1n

R11

R12

R1n

time

R21

R22

R2n

time

Rn1

Rn2Rnn

time

R e s o u r c e s

Task 21

Task 22

Task 2n

Task n1

Task n2

Task nn

Fig. 3. Plan and production status of each company.

time

Company 1

Company 1

Company 2

Company 2

Company n

Company n

C o m p a n i e s

Job n1Job nn

Job 21

Job 2n

Job 11

Job 1n

Fig. 4. Supply chain plan.

SPIRIT-CDatabase

SPIRIT-C forms

JDBC

LegacyDB

GUIforms

ODBC

SPIRIT-PDatabase

SPIRIT-Pforms

JDBC

Orders

OrdersProducts

Schedule

LegacyDB

GUIforms

ODBC

SPIRIT-PDatabase

SPIRIT-Pforms

JDBC

Orders

OrdersProducts

Schedule

SPIRIT-MPDatabase

SPIRIT-MPforms

JD

B

C

Orders Schedule

COMPANY 2 COMPANY 1

COMPANY 3

Fig. 5. Communication scheme.

D. Mourtzis / CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology xxx (2011) xxx–xxx 3

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Collaboration module (SPIRIT-C) is a web based workspace forsharing information on critical production parameters, such asthe status of the orders, the inventory, the planning as well as thescheduling data.

These software components were installed on a so called servercomputer running the necessary infrastructure that is a webserver, which is responsible for delivering the data to the clientcomputers. The web server used was the Apache version 1.3 thatcan handle Secure Socket Layers – SSL a module that implementsdata encryption. In order for Apache to execute Java based softwaresuch as the Java Server Pages – JSP and Java Beans, it needs a servletcontainer engine. For this purpose the Jakarta-Tomcat version 3.2.2

was selected as it is suggested by the Jakarta foundation since itcomplies with the servlets and JSPs specications [27,28] .

There is only one instance of the collaboration moduleaccessible through the Internet by all the cooperating companies.Spirit-M and Spirit-P are installed locally in each company whilst itis possible for one or more modules of the system to be installed.Company 1, uses Spirit-P for planning but there is no need forSpirit-M since company 1 uses another application for thispurpose. A link has been implemented among Spirit-P and thelegacy systems of company 1 to exchange information on theresources. Information from Spirit-P is shared to the Spirit-Cmodule. Data exchange among the modules of the Spirit softwareare implemented via a set of XML based interfaces complying with

Fig. 6. Example of a schedule in XML format for product Levier Bascule set 165.


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the Document Type Denition – DTD specication. A DTD denesthe content and the structure of an XML document [21] . XML isused in order to exchange information on the orders issued and oneach company’s schedule as shown in Fig. 5. A small portion of anXML le that represents schedule data about the production of oneof the companies is as shown in Fig. 6. In the case study discussedin this paper, Spirit-P installed in company 2 exchanges data with

their legacy system, Spirit-P installed in company 1, exchangesdata with the other company 1 legacy applications and Spirit-Pthat is linked to Spirit-M, in the form of the Spirit-MP application,exchanges information with the applications in company 3. Spirit-P and Spirit-M exchange information with Spirit-C in XML format.

All three modules of the SPIRIT software are based on the 3-Tierparadigm. This architecture, as presented in Fig. 7, includes 3layers, the data, the business and the presentation layers.

The presentation layer is the client part of the application. Itconsists of a web browser that is used to communicate with thebusiness layer through Internet or Intranet. The software wastested in MS Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

The business layer is that in which the business logic resides. Thebusiness layer provides data manipulation and data managementfunctionality, and includes the Planning component, which isimplemented as a Java Bean [27,28] . Data are extracted from thedatabase by using the Java Database Connectivity – JDBC. Thesedata are represented internally in the system using Java languageattributes and variables. Data are processed as needed, forexample, the scheduling component retrieves due dates, workload,and facility information and generates schedules respecting theproduction constraints, such as due dates, the suitability andavailability of resources, the sequence of tasks, etc. The businesslayer also includes the XML standard based module, for exchangingdata with other application [21,27,28] . The business layerimplementation should be platform independent meaning thatit should be implemented such a way that is could be executed incomputers running different types of operations systems like MSWindows, Linux, Unix, etc. For this reason the Java programminglanguage was selected. The Java based implementation of web

Client2

Client1

Client3

WebServer

DataLayer

BusinessLayer

PresentationLayer

JavaBean

XMLModuleInterface

WebBrowser

WebBrowser

WebBrowser

DatabaseJava

Applet

Fig. 7. System architecture.

Fig. 8. Scheduling database schema.


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based projects together with the adoption of the XML standard fordata exchange assures a high degree of interoperability andplatform independency of the developed system.

The data layer includes the database management system. Thecore of the database schema of the Spirit-P module, representingfacility, workload and scheduling information, is as shown inFig. 8.

One company undertakes one or more projects, which consist of one or more job orders. Each job order is undertaken by onedepartment of the company, for example, the Assembly Depart-ment undertakes the assembly job orders. Each departmentconsists of one or more workcenters comprising a group of identical resources. Each workcenter performs one or more tasksthat are then assigned to one of the workcenter resources.

Resource-task assignments are represented in the form of alternative assignments. Similar structures are implemented forSpirit-M and Spirit-C respectively.

4. Industrial case study

This work is based on a ‘real life’ distributed manufacturingscenario and the analysis considers three companies, working inclose cooperation in order to produce a nal product. The productis specied by the order placed by the customer. The proles of thecompanies participating in this supply network are the following:

Company 1, a typical SME and the main node of the supply chain,provides aluminum and zinc alloys using pressure die castingequipment.Company 2, a typical SME is one of the nodes of the supply chain.A dedicated sub-contractor, producing injection moulding andpressure die casting parts and assemblies, for a large range of industrial customers.Company 3, an SME, node of the supply chain, performselectrostatic painting of different types of parts, such as: screws,locks, telephone devices, and aluminum panels, enamel painton metallic objects, such as ovens, stoves, solar and electricheaters, aluminum painting, silk printing, surface treatmentsand assembly parts.

The cooperation is triggered by an order received by the maincontractor, which is company 1 as shown in Fig. 9. According to thespecications of the product, company 1 dispatches the order tocompany 2, for producing the plastic parts, and to company 3, forperforming post processing and assembly. At the same time,company 1 itself produces a number of parts of the nal assembly.The manufactured parts are collected by company 3, for the postprocessing; assembly and shipment to the customer to beperformed.

The manufacturing activities of each company are stronglydependent on the activities of the other companies. Themanufacturing activity is hampered if the parts manufactured inone of the companies involved are not nished in time. Specically,the delay in the production of plastic parts in company 2 causesdelays in the assembly process of company 3. Therefore, there is aneed to trace the work progress of each company, so that the othercompanies can prepare the production, i.e., order the necessarymaterials and nish existing orders.

Fig. 9. Business process.

Fig. 10. Spirit-P, plan of one company.


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The three companies of the real world industrial case study arecooperating for the production of a sub-assembly, which includespainted metal parts, assembled with one or more plastic parts. Ahandle for a sluice valve is produced for a European manufacturerof large-scale hydraulic appliances. The handle, called ‘‘LevierBascule set 165’’, comprises of two aluminum casts, painted in twodifferent colours with electrostatic painting techniques, one plasticpart being the connecting element of the handle to the valve, twoscrews and one spring used for the assembly. The order given bythe external customer concerns the whole assembled handle.Company 1 receives the order and releases suborders through theSpirit-C module for each one of the cooperating partners. Thecasting operations are performed by company 1, the order forplastic parts should be given to company 2, whilst the post-processing and the assembly to company 3. The order data aretransferred to the Spirit-P module that considers the facility andworkload information and produces a plan according to theprocedure described in Section 3.

In Fig. 10 is presented an example of such a plan, using Spirit-P,for planning the production of company 3. This Gantt chart isimplemented as a Java applet and is accessible through the

Internet. Similarly, each company produces a production plan forthe order received.

The plan for each company is imported to Spirit-C via thecorresponding XML interface. Spirit-C produces a combined planfor the production of the nal product as shown in Fig. 11 .

Each company generates updated planning information associ-ated with monitoring information about the produced quantitiesfor the ordered products. This information is imported to Spirit-Cvia the XML interfaces and is visualized as a black shade on the jobsbars as seen in Fig. 12 whilst it is accessible by other companiesthat can adjust their work accordingly.

The pilot introduction of the suggested system into the dailycooperative work of the three SMEs, gave some promising results

based on a measurement plan, which is congured according to thebusiness objectives of the specic pilot case. This measurementplan included the selection and application of a set of performanceindicators and the measurement of their values before and afterthe introduction of the suggested system. Indicative results arepresented in Table 1.

Taking into account the improvements achieved after a year of the system application, an assessment of the nancial benets wasmade. The calculated benet values for the manufacturing networkof the cooperating SMEs are presented in Table 2.

Fig. 11. Supply chain plan.

Fig. 12. Spirit-C, supply chain distributed production monitoring.

Table 1Performance indicators and their calculated values.

Description of result Value

Delivery performance average increase(number of orders – year before vs. year after)

15.5%

Machinery loading rate increase (year before vs. year after) 0.3%No. of parts in stock:

Average

for

the

1st

quarter

of

the

year

60,050Average for the 2nd quarter of the year 58,200Average for the 3rd quarter of the year 47,814

Table 2Calculated benets for the SMEs.

Description Euro/year

Cost reduction on orders managementthrough efcient communication

45,000

Efcient inventory management throughimproved communication

25,000

Improved resource utilisation through bettermanagement of the work allocation

35,000

Increased productivity and prot through moreefcient completion of orders

30,000

Total benet 135,000


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5. Conclusions and outlook

The discussed approach combines a exible 4-level hierarchicalscheduling approach and a collaboration framework in the form of a web based software package. Critical business functions, such asplanning, scheduling and monitoring of work in the supply chain,are enabled by this approach. The use of XML standardizes theexchange of data due to its openness that facilitates access to theinformation. Additionally, the use of the web for communicatingproves to be a reliable and efcient approach that minimizes timedelays compared with paper based approaches. Web basedcollaboration ensures that delays, due to the ‘bureaucracy’ causedby paper based data exchange be minimized.

Customers and suppliers of the cooperating partners candirectly be linked with the virtual organization and can gainbenets such as consistency in their delivery dates, quick responseto variations concerning their orders, ability to trace the progressof their orders, faster and more accurate quotations provided bythe virtual organization, as well as accurate estimations for supplyplanning and inventory keeping on the products and parts,supplied by the virtual organization.

The nal conclusion is that web based approaches that areadapted to real life business rules, help avoid changes in the waydaily business is performed but also utilize the benets of theinstant information exchange which information technologiescan offer thus, minimizing business process required reengi-neering.

Consumers around the globe expressed the need for uniqueproducts that combine quality, with short life-cycles, that also areavailable at low prices, at the right time [29] . Online customizationwill become available at the near future, for every customer andtruly unique products will be requested every moment by usersaround the globe. However, the increase in manufacturingcomplexity, the dynamic production environment, the escalatingcost and environmental legislations/regulations are some of theissues that emerge in a mass customization environment [3] . Atpresent, most researches are concerned with the strategic impact

of mass customization and do not address to specic implementa-tion issues [30] .

Therefore, our future research will be focused on theinvestigation and development of methods and tools that aim tobridge the gap between mass production and mass customization,engaging the customer in the initial design of the products andrealizing the manufacturing of these personalized added-valueproducts in a novel, coordinated, and efcient decentralizedapproach. Further to that will be utilized multiple cost efciencycriteria in order for the most efcient decentralized manufacturingschemes to be determined.

Acknowledgment

The work discussed in this paper was partially funded by theCEC: project SMART-SME (IST-20744).

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Internet based collaboration in the manufacturing supply chain