The objective of this project was to demonstrate that a higher level of efficiency and a greater level of job satisfaction can be achieved by maximising manufacturing planning and control decision-making at the lowest possible levels.

Manufacturing efficiency will be increased and job skills and experience will be extended because:

- authority and responsibility will be delegated to the levels which have the relevant experience and the most immediate data necessary to make the best judgements
- the volume of data passing through the system will be substantially reduced, resulting in reduced communications overhead, decrease in complexity, and a shorter response time.

The following systems were to be developed:

- the Operator Management System (OMS) offering operator planning and control at the cell level in two versions - a stand-alone version running on PC type workstations and an on-machine version running on custom CNC hardware offering real-time monitoring of the machining process
- the Production Management Support System (PMS) offering operator planning and control at the multi-cell in two versions: standard PMS, supporting PMS software functions and linking to higher level MrP systems, and multi-level PMS, with additional links supporting communication with lower level management systems.

The PMS and OMS were to be linked to form the complete Distributed Manufacturing Planning and Control System.