ABSTRACT
After reviewing the trends in creating the e-factory environment and examining a methodology for developing a roadmap on how to achieve an e-factory, this final chapter provides thoughts on where the course of future developments in both process and technology might lead. While the future is usually built on what has happened in the past, the future in the e-factory will also be an opportunity for creativity and innovation that has not existed for decades.
There has been an evolution of business process practices during the past ten years that has resulted in a set of principles and concepts that have merged from a variety of sources. All of these principles were created with the concept of having the most efficient process in terms of resources consumed, the fastest process in terms of cycle time, and of having the highest quality process in terms of eliminating mistakes. The advent of e-commerce has added flexibility as an additional requirement to the emerging set of best “e-practices” in the business processes for the e-factory. All of these principles are important because they either create or facilitate the benefits of operation that e-factory technology promises.
