Information systems and knowledge management in industrial engineering: recent advances and new perspectives
Résumé
Production Research is foundational for advancing theories, methods, technologies and practices in manufacturing industries, production systems and related service industries. Over the last five decades, tremendous scientific and technical progresses have been made in all areas of production of goods and services, ranging from the birth of Computer-Aided tools (CAx, where x stands for Design, Manufacturing, Process Planning or Engineering), Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines and industrial robotics in the 60's, then to Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs), Automated Guided-Vehicles (AGVs) and concept of unmanned factories in the 70's, to Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), quality management, value chains and lean management in the 80's, to mass customization, distributed warehousing and networked organizations governed by integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages in the 90's, then to service-orientation (or “servitization”), global supply chains and interoperable and knowledge-based systems in the 2000's and, finally, to emerging smart, sensing and sustainable production systems today culminating with the concept of smart factories and Industry 4.0 since 2011.