Comparison of information systems for engineer-to-order and make-to-stock situations

This paper investigates the nature of information systems for the support of production management. It provides a comparison between these information systems in two cases: (i) the case of make-to-stock production; and (ii) the case of engineer-to-order pro’duction. Databases with ba;sic product and process information have quite a different nature for these two cases. For make-to-stock production, such as classical MRP systems, the basic information should be complete, consistent and up-to-date. This information is used by planners to generate materials and capacity plans in an automated way. For engineer-to-order production, it should lbe allowed that basic information is incomplete, partly inconsistent, or not up-to-date. This is due to the fact that these data are used by engineers as reference data for the creation of customer-specific solutions.