1.1 Introduction
As a result of the changing world wide business environment and customer demand, a need has developed for improving performance and maximising the available market opportunities which form the key challenges for industry in the 21st century. The IMS Enterprise Integration test case (Globeman 21) provided the platform for identifying the major characteristics for future global manufacturing and identified the industrial requirements associated with an integrated global enterprise. Standardised production is giving way to flexible manufacturing systems with more customised products and services produced at a lower cost, and higher quality. Since manufacturing is a key industrial sector and the cornerstone for economic growth the challenge of focusing on total enterprise and inter-enterprise integration is imperative for rapid continuous improvement of products and processes.
On the basis of the feasibility study results, the Globeman 21 consortium has developed a "vision" of what industry needs to do to compete successfully in a global manufacturing environment. This vision is based on market demands and focuses on integrating the global virtual company. The Globeman 21 consortium will provide implementable solutions to this vision.
1.2 Globeman 21 Feasibility Study Results
Following an initiative from Japan proposing a concept of a future manufacturing industry, Australia, Canada, EFTA, EU and the US commenced a feasibility study in 1992. An international consortium of industrial companies, universities and research organisations was formed to define and analyse potential improvements in future manufacturing.
To satisfy the requirements of the future manufacturing environment as identified during the Globeman 21 feasibility study, the consortium was led to focus on integration of the global enterprise, the "processes", which cross all the organisational structures and represent the value, which the organisations adds to the product or service. The results of the feasibility study showed a clear requirement for a change and have identified key processes, which are common to all manufacturing domains (one-off, small batch, large batch, semi-continuous or continuous). The consortium also identified the "technologies" which are critical to the support and integration of these processes.
2. Globeman 21 Proposal Objectives
The objectives of Globeman 21 Full Scale Project are (a) to create new paradigms, models and methods for the emerging global manufacturing environment and to integrate and manage the key processes (b) to test the newly defined process and technologies in industrial demonstrations which cover the Globeman 21 vision. These processes and technologies will provide a basis for solutions that can be widely implemented and integrated across most industries.
The Globeman 21 consortium affords participants a broad access to existing state-of-the-art systems, a high level of scientific and technical expertise and experience in international collaboration. This will enable the development and deployments of leap ahead capabilities in the following areas:
* Global Product Life Cycle Management - The objective is to create a Virtual Environment for new products including or using a complete set of concurrent "objects" describing the design, manufacturing, construction and life cycle support of the product based on standards. This environment will be seamlessly integrated with the Global Manufacturing Management and the associated supporting technologies.
* Global Manufacturing Management - Focuses on managing the supply chain: suppliers, fabrication, assembly, distribution and customers. In addition to production it covers purchasing, transportation and logistics in general. From a transaction perspective, it addresses managing the fulfilment of orders by means of the supply chain.
* Technologies - Enhanced "technologies" supporting these processes include:
3. Value Added
Globeman 21 consortium will focus on the global scale manufacturing environment and the integration of the global enterprise. The international co-operation between international companies and universities was very successfully demonstrated during the feasibility study. The project will enhance industrial competitiveness by advancing and deploying manufacturing processes and technologies that allow companies to thrive in an agile, integrated and global environment reflecting the concepts of Virtual Manufacturing (VM).
The global focus on manufacturing necessitates a consortium composed of companies from across the world who are customers and suppliers to each other (e.g. BHP and Toyo) and who themselves are internationally distributed (e.g. Ahlstrom and BICC). In this way we can test our global concepts within companies and across global virtual companies within the Globeman 21 consortium.
4. Participants in the Globeman 21 Full Scale Project