Modelling human resource systems in support of efficient production

Abstract

Resource systems in manufacturing businesses need to be managed innovatively particularly when a range of products and services needs to be realized with minimum investment in resource systems. In this research, the primary form of active resource system, namely people, will be modelled with a view to facilitating efficient production. Humans play the key role in organising manufacturing businesses and contribute greatly towards competitive production performance. Enterprise Modelling is use to create static models that capture key organisational relationships in a manufacturing business and transformed into equivalent structures within Simulation Models that enable dynamic analysis. This provides both graphical and computer executable models of people and facilitates quantitative analysis and comparison of different human system configurations that suit various manufacturing workplaces. The paper illustrates the application of the modelling approach and observes advantages gained through using coherent sets of enterprise and simulation models. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2010.