An industrial dynamics simulation of the process control/business control interfaces of a large firm

Using data from a large primary steel products company, two industrial dynamics simulation models were constructed to study the effects of process control computer-generated information on management control systems. The first model represented the existing system, the other a proposed process control/business control interfaced system. The research provides an initial step in the solution of the problem of integrating process control and management control systems by investigating the relationship between process information and control decisions at the operating level of management. The proposed system model indicated much less fluctuation in inventory levels following changes in demand, lower backlog ratios, higher inventory ratios, lower delivery delay ratios, and higher levels of customer satisfaction. The proposed system was also fairly insensitive to changes in the time between transmissions from the process control system to the management control systems once the interface was effected.