Design for a manufacturing data base for management use

The current state of the art in the field of data base management systems (DBMS) ranges from simple microprocessor-based information lists to complex international concerns costing millions of dollars. This paper describes an example of the use of this technology to create a manufacturing data base that contains information on eight plants located throughout the United States which manufacture plastic molded products. This work was performed on an IBM 3033 mainframe using a commercial data base software package. A presentation of the system design is given in the form of flowcharts and examples of system output reports are shown. Applications which are discussed are bill of materials processing, standards maintenance, performance measurement and pricing and job costing applications. Consideration is given to the various costs involved in the creation of the data base as compared to the benefits received by management. Finally, areas for planned expansion and improvement are given, including a proposed interface with an existing mini-computer based plant information system.