Advances in Production Management Systems

The competitive environment is becoming increasingly more complex and intense. In order to cope, business decisions related to various areas have to become more interrelated. Firms need to couple their operations strategies to the marketing strategies to best support the competition of their products in the marketplace. The perspectives on production management systems are getting more strategic. A more integrated approach is thus called for, bringing together the various perspectives on production management systems and operations strategy. This relationship is important in any type of operation, perhaps more so in supply chains, production networks and global operations. §This book brings together some of the latest thinking by leading experts from around the world on integrating systems and strategies in production management and related issues that are relevant for making production into a competitive resource for the firm. This book is composed of five parts, each focused on a specific theme: §Linking systems and strategies §Strategic operations management §IS/IT applications in the value chain §Modelling and simulation §Improving operations §Each of the chapters in this book have been peer reviewed and presented by the authors at the International Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems APMS 2007, held in Linköping, Sweden on 17-19 September 2007. §Advances in Production Management Systems is essential reading for managers in manufacturing and service industries, systems analysts, IT specialist and systems engineers, and post-graduate students of manufacturing, business and IT-related fields. §Jan Olhager and Fredrik Persson are based at Linköping University, Sweden.This book brings together some of the latest thinking by leading experts from around the world on integrating systems and strategies in production management and related issues that are relevant for making production into a competitive resource for the firm. This book is composed of five parts, each focused on a specific theme: Linking systems and strategies; Strategic operations management; IS/IT applications in the value chain; Modelling and simulation; Improving operations.International Federation for Information Processing§The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of referred international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing. §For more information about the 300 other books in the IFIP series, please visit www.springer.com. §For more information about IFIP, please visit www.ifip.org.