Uncertainty and Reliability Management in the Business Enterprise
Uncertainties abound in all phases of business with respect to demand, supply, information, requirements, communication, etc. The reliability of the integrated business enterprise is seriously affected by these uncertainties. Therefore the business integration research includes the modeling and propagation of both physical and informational uncertainty through the simulation models, in order to achieve robustness and reliability in the integrated enterprise.
Faculty have investigated the use of information technology for international supply chain coordination and business-to-business electronic commerce. They have developed optimization models for production and personnel assignment, forecasting, aggregate production planning, project planning and inventory control. Other areas of investigation have included information sharing and reliability effects among various functional areas both within and between organizations.
Information flow has critical effects on the design, analysis, and construction of new products, services, processes, and systems. As companies downsize, supply chain management and business enterprise integration have become major concerns. Three technologies are needed:
- Integrated product realization: from requirements, to conceptual design, to final design, to manufacturing, through life cycle management - a single optimized system;
- Integration infrastructure: communications management, knowledge management and workforce augmentation to meet growing demands in a seamless, interoperable environment; and,
- Integrated business operations: seamlessly integrated business and operations systems to manage the enterprise - every link in the supply chain - and assure efficient operations and readiness.