Perspectives on Real-Time Information Sharing through Smart Factories:Visibility via Enterprise Integration

As per the Industry 4.0 vision, it is well established that 'Enterprise Integration' by inter-organizational collaboration in a supply chain can achieve competitive advantage for all the parties. However, not much study is done on the tools at the manufacturer's end that enable the real-time information sharing in between the integrated enterprises. This paper explores the role of manufacturing information systems (beyond ERP layer) to define the scope/role of smart factories to enhance 'visibility' (supply chain visibility). The findings contributed to developing a hypothesis that manufacturing operations management (MOM) systems, especially manufacturing execution systems (MES) of smart factories at 'manufacturer' can provide critical product-centric data to the 'wholesaler', thus enhancing supply chain performance. This position paper gives insights into the 'real-time information sharing' in the fresh food supply chain, by presenting the perspectives of both manufacturer (with MOM systems) and the wholesaler (with needs on real-time production data regarding shipments). Furthermore, it provides a conceptual model illustrating the scope of smart factories towards the manufacturing digitalization. Analysis explored through case example of a Danish meat manufacturer to investigate how MES tool can aid 'planning'. In addition, the paper also sets the agenda for future research in this area

Information sharing for replenishment planning and control in fresh food supply chains:a planning environment perspective

This study explores how fresh food processors’ planning environment characteristics (PECs) affect the information sharing in supply chains during replenishment planning and control (RP&C). The research design is a multiple case study covering a triadic supply chain with five fresh food product (FFP) processors, one wholesaler and nine retail stores. The analysis investigates how the product-, demand-, supply- and production-related PECs affect the material requirements planning and master production scheduling at the FFP processors. Further, it investigates how these affect information sharing at a product level. The findings propose a means to differentiate the information sharing in a supply chain at a product level, rather than differentiation based on demand type or processor which currently dominates the field. The study derives propositions regarding appropriate frequency, timing, direction, modality, content and dynamism of information sharing during RP&C