A Functional Reference Model for Manufacturing Execution Systems in the Automotive Industry

Being confronted with IT strategic questions of how to constantly reduce IT operating costs and at the same time live up to ever increasing manufacturing demands, automobile manufacturers are encountering problems to find appropriate IT support for production planning and execution. Moreover, they are facing the challenge to clearly define and demarcate Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) functionality. Despite the existence of a number of standardization efforts addressing MES functionality, automobile manufacturers are still struggling to reach a common understanding for the term MES and a clear functional design. The paper addresses this need by developing a functional reference model for MES in the automotive industry based on a multiple case study approach. The case studies examine the design and implementation of manufacturing-related functionality in four leading automotive manufacturing companies.