Approaching Automation of Production Planning and Control: A Theoretical Framework

Abstract

The ongoing digitization of production has led to a significant increase in global competition. Manufacturing companies located in high-wage countries such as Germany must find ways to transform their production to economically competitive technologies. Automation is seen as a suitable method for reducing process costs in the manufacturing industry. Especially the automation of production planning and control (PPC) is a major challenge for companies. Since it often is not easy to determine the objectives for automation, identifying automation potentials is a problem. In addition, there are organizational, technical and personnel challenges to automation. While most companies have recognized the potentials of automation they often fail to achieve these in practice. This paper presents a process model that supports companies in systematically automate PPC. The model provides users with guidelines to help to identify automation potentials. It offers the ability to overcome typical barriers to automation through recommendations for appropriate measures and determines the common challenges companies are facing in the field of automation. The process model is divided into two sub-models. In the phase model, the required phases and steps of the model are identified. The task model provides a detailed description of tasks to perform to successfully approach the automation of PPC.