Global Production Management in Graphic Arts Production - Models, Experiences and Development Potential

Production processes in the graphic arts industry, especially in newspapers, differ from other industrial manufacturing processes in many critical aspects. Enterprise-wide production management requires new methods and system solutions. This paper presents a general model for global production management systems in the graphic arts industry. The model covers product structuring, standardization of intersystem communication, production tracking and scheduling, and resource allocation. Experiences from a prototype installation are reported. The possibilities of future extensions to the model is discussed. Industry restructuring will require the management of networked virtual enterprise production processes. Increased information repurposing will require the management of parallel production of printed and digital products. The model can also be enhanced through the incorporation of additional product information, e.g., for color and quality management purposes. We show, that our model can be developed to include these features.