ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the problem of synchronization in the manufacturing area. It considers the process-based organization and the main manufacturing planning and control techniques and systems as the basic support for the matching between production and demand flows. Some preliminary considerations about customer demand and manufacturing, logistics, and distribution systems seem particularly suitable to understand how companies can allocate and integrate resources to ensure an effective synchronization. The development of the manufacturing system architecture begins with an assessment of the basic tasks that the factory must perform. A computer-integrated manufacturing system can be defined as a computer-based integration of all components involved in the production of an item. All manufacturing organizations, aiming at synchronizing manufacturing rate with demand rate, must cope with a certain amount of variability, which is caused by market, suppliers, competition, government regulations, and so forth. Distribution activities are planned using information developed in the demand management function.
