The influence of JIT production and advanced IT on factory organisation

The highly competitive market calls for new production strategies and the introduction of advanced information techniques in the factory environment. This has a significant impact on the internal organisation of the factory and its relation to the outside world. New production techniques like `just-in-time´ ask for changes in the qualification and organisation of the involved people. The author presents the advantages and problems based on a case study where a knowledge-based system was introduced to optimise the information flow between the production management department and the shopfloor