Research and application of reconfigurable manufacturing execution system for China´s aviation industrial enterprises

Aiming at China´s aviation industrial enterprises, a reconfigurable manufacturing execution system (RMES) is presented to meet their changeable and individual requirements. Firstly, based on the analysis of aviation product characteristics and production management mode, the existing problems are analyzed. Secondly, a MES solution named Workshop Manager for China´s aviation industrial enterprises is presented. Here, Workshop Manager is divided into 15 subsystems, such as planning, scheduling, inventory, tool, quality, equipment, cost management, with their functions being specifically designed, and their business processes being optimized as well. Moreover, a four-tier MES architecture based on SOA is established. Afterwards, an information integration of workshop manager with other hardware and software systems is discussed in details. Finally, the Workshop Manager is developed successfully by employing component technology. The application results within more than 30 job-shops in 7 large and middle-sized enterprises of China have confirmed that the integrated and reconfigurable Workshop Manager is feasible and will be rather effective.