Changes in Operations Management due to Internet based Production Concepts — An Institution Economical Perspective

摘要

Currently we have to realize a major change in the technological basis of manufacturingor even all production processes: The diffusion of new information andcommunication technologies, especially Internet Technologies, on the shop floor.Applications of Internet Technologies may be directly implemented on the shopfloor, e.g. in networking dislocated assembly lines, as well as in assisting managementprocesses, e.g. in production planning and control.Both, formal and empirical studies have verified a significant increase in productivityof manufacturing processes by intraorganizational applications of moderninformation and communication technologies (Barua/Lee 2001, pp. 37). Therefore,this change has a high influence on operations management. While traditionalProduction Concepts such as Lean Production, World Class Manufacturing andAgile Manufacturing inevitably disregard this development, new Production Conceptsarise that fundamentally consider the application of Internet Technologieson the shop floor. However, from a business management perspective, industrialfirms have to accomplish new operating requirements deriving from this technologicalchange. This paper provides a discussion of the consequences of InternetTechnologies on operations management, as well as of production conceptsbased on Internet Technologies from an institutional point of view.