The effects of computer-aided production-control systems on defined company types

SUMMARY The first paper of this series demonstrated a technique for classifying companies according to production control complexity using numerical taxonomic methods. Six company types were identified within the engineering batch manufacturing sector. These six company types have been used as the basis for assessing the effectiveness of production control systems in particular situations. The analyses, presented in this paper, show that the level of benefits expected from particular systems can be predicted, and that the order of subsystem implementation and the mode of operation will have considerable effect on the efficiency of a system.