The take-up and use of advanced manufacturing technology by an industrial company is directly related to its ability to quantify the likely impact of each technology on its business. Major investments must be seen to be compatible with company business goals.
The advanced manufacturing business implementation tool for Europe (AMBITE) addresses these issues.
A framework was developed which links a business model to a manufacturing strategy. This framework allows managers to decompose the business goals into specific manufacturing goals.
A set of mechanisms was developed to capture and represent the company's understanding of the impacts of the technology and/or programme on its business.
3 prototype analysis tools were developed. These tools facilitate casual reasoning through the technology and programme models.
A decision support mechanism which allows users to trace the impact of a technology or programme through the measures of manufacturing performance to the strategic performance indicators, was developed.
A high quality user interface was developed. This allows senior managers to navigate through the technology and programme models whilst also providing the means to capture enterprise information from the users. The users interface provides a bridge between the various models and analysis tools for the user, who is typically a senior executive within the company.
The AMBITE tool is intended to be used by senior management to support investment decision making.