Agility through Information Sharing: Results Achieved in a Production Setting

Abstract

As organizations seek to improve their competitive position by responding effectively to the increasing rate of change in the market place, the need for agile enterprises and agile manufacturing has come to the forefront In this paper we examine the essential role that informa tion sharing plays in enabling the agile manufacturing of complex products The principle goal of an agile manufacturing interface is to provide the information sharing infrastructure necessary to enable the formation of virtual organizations and to provide them with the robust DFx mechanisms they need in order to develop high quality products in a timely, cost effective manner Results achieved from the implementation of an agile manufacturing interface in a production environment are highlighted These results include a 10 x reduction in the cycle-time required to go from design to manufacturing set-up, and a reduction in the rework for complex Printed Circuit Assemblies of up to 80%