Computers in manufacturing: towards successful implementation of

integrated automation system

K. Dhinesh Kumara,*, L. Karunamoorthya, Hubert Rothb, T.T. Mirnalineec

aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, IndiabInstitute of Control Engineering, University of Siegen, Siegen, Germany

cCSI Institute of Technology, Thovalai, TamilNadu, India

Abstract

Survival of industries depends on the integration of new technologies and business management processes. The objective of this research is

to provide some important factors on the key technologies of information technology, managerial and communication issues that must be

addressed for designing and implementing integrated CIM systems that lead to the concept of totally integrated automation system (IAS).

The research also identifies a set of critical success factors for the development of totally integrated flexible automation systems. Success in

implementation becomes a reality when the set goals and objectives stipulated by the adoption strategy are fully realized. The factors that are

critical to the successful implementation of IAS have been identified and discussed, based on a review of literature, a field study that surveyed

different types of manufacturing firms and series of interviews with a number of working professionals and managers in three automation and

system components exhibitions held in Europe. The data collected on critical factors were then summarized and compared to four specific

sets of critical success factors in related areas. These studies assess the impacts of the identified factors on the benefits of IAS and develop a

conceptual framework for measuring success and highlight the relationship among the success factors in the development and

implementation of IAS.

q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Computer integrated manufacturing; Control technology; Information technology; Integrated automation; Critical success factors

1. Introduction

In today’s competitive global market, for the survival of

any industry, manufacturing companies need to be flexible,

adaptive, responsive to changes, proactive and be able to

produce a variety of products in a short time at a lower cost

(Nagalingam and Lin, 1999). Hence, manufacturing com-

panies are compelled to seek advanced technologies by

integrating manufacturing facilities and systems in an

enterprise through computers, its peripherals and communi-

cation networks to transform islands of enabling technol-

ogies into a highly interconnected manufacturing system

(Lin, 1976). Today, the capability of producing high quality

products according to diverse customer requirements with

shorter delivery times has become the characteristic of

order-qualifiers for manufacturing industries. Fig. 1 shows

the drivers for the change management. Furthermore, non-

price factors, such as quality, product design, innovation

and delivery services are the primary determinants of

product success in today’s global arena (Shaw, 2000).

Implementing integrated advanced technologies is an

effective approach towards solving the problems of

decreased productivity, labor costs and consequent rise in

unit costs, which are continually plaguing present day

manufacturing managers (Lin, 1976). Implementation of

advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) provides

opportunities to achieve competitive advantage in an

intermediate- to long-term time frame (Sohal, 1997).When

necessary, if enterprises decide to change their manufactur-

ing systems, modifications to current manufacturing sys-

tems are required because of changing market requirements,

business objectives, business requirements, improved manu-

facturing concepts or available technologies. The decision

to manufacture new products might result in change in

the existing computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)

systems. The manufacturing systems that are in operation

today will be re-engineered at some point in time to turn into

0166-4972/$ - see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.technovation.2003.09.004

Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488

www.elsevier.com/locate/technovation

* Corresponding author for correspondence. Address: 22-Pattisson Street,

Nagercoil, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India 629 001. Tel.: þ91-

4652-237473; fax: þ91-4652-233509..

E-mail address: dhinesh123@yahoo.com (K. Dhinesh Kumar).

next-generation manufacturing systems, so that current

integrated systems become future heritage systems (Zwe-

gers and Gransier, 1995). It would seem that to satisfy the

evolving market needs, the manufacturing facilities would

need to integrate the plant automation layer with enterprise

business systems (Dhinesh Kumar et al., 2002b) in order to

bring their manufacturing facilities under control and to

satisfy the demanding supply chain requirements of global

e-commerce (which is still evolving). Technology alone is

only a piece of solution and integrated automation is an

essential success factor in automation, control and infor-

mation systems (Dhinesh Kumar et al., 2002a).

It is important to recognize that previous research did not

seek to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) specific to

the development of integrated automation solutions for the

manufacturing industries. This paper describes the control

technology based on personal computers (PCs), and the

CSFs for the implementation of integrated automation

systems (IAS).

2. Historical developments in industrial automation

and control

Around the year 1900, factory mechanization facilitated

mass production to meet the consumer’s demands for

improved products. In the year 1930, transfer lines and fixed

automation were created to facilitate mass production. This

resulted in the development of programmable automation.

By the year 1950, numerical control (NC) was developed as

an innovative approach to programmable automation. With

the developments in commercially available computer

technology, the application of computers in manufacturing

started to emerge by producing a variety of new technol-

ogies. By the year 1955, the introduction of computer aided

design (CAD) and developments of NC resulted which led

to the evolution of systems like computer NC (CNC) and

direct NC (DNC). By the year 1970, developments in CAD

applications and computer aided manufacturing (CAM)

based systems introduced the concept of CIM, which are

collectively named as AMTs (Nagalingam and Lin, 1999).

AMTs provide flexibility as well as data driven computer

integration for a manufacturing organization, in which

the manufacturing technology utilized is intelligent

enough to process the activities with less human interven-

tion. The need for integration became a necessity by the

advanced systems in CAM, computer aided process

planning (CAPP), computer aided quality control

(CAQC), flexible manufacturing system (FMS) and CIM

in 1980s, in response to the problems faced by traditional

manufacturing processes of industrial automation. Individ-

ual automation leads to islands of automation. These islands

of automation did not facilitate communication between the

functional units and plagued the manufacturing industry

(Shaw, 2000).

In order to integrate islands of automation, the United

States Air Force initiated the Integrated Computer Aided

Manufacturing (ICAM) programme in 1983 (Foston et al.,

1991). The European Strategic Programme for Research and

Development in Information Technologies (ESPRIT)and

Consortium European Computer Integrated Manufacturing

Architecture (AMICE—in reverse) initiated the computer

integrated manufacturing open system architecture

(CIMOSA) concepts in 1983 (ESPRIT, 1993). As discussed

by Segarra (1999), the advanced information technology

(IT) road map for the European manufacturing industry

initiative was launched by Daimler Benz in 1993, for

technological integration through the development of

integration platforms, and the usage of generic networked

enterprise (re)engineering methodologies.

Fig. 1. Drivers for change management.

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488478

International standards related to CIM such as electronic

data interchange (EDI), distributed office application model

(DOAM), manufacturing automation protocol (MAP),

technical and office protocol (TOP), open distribution

processing (ODP), open system interconnection (OSI) and

standard for exchange of product data (STEP) started to

bridge the communication gap. Some of the major

standardization organizations within this field are the

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the

International Standards Organization (ISO), the Open

Systems Foundation (OSF), the American National Stan-

dards Institute (ANSI), and the Institute of Electrical and

Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (Rahkonen, 1995).

The generic Internet based utility hooks up host

computers (which handle high-level decisions) and dedi-

cated process controllers. This gives the controllers various

facilities to interact, report, query, and coordinate activities

with computers located anywhere in the Internet (Fuertes

et al., 1999; Jagdale and Merchant, 1996). The new

possibilities for connectivity, sharing and coordination

have shifted the way manufacturing enterprises are run

(Shaw, 2000). Client/server architecture and groupware

tools attempt to coordinate the anarchy created by the PC

revolution, and provide means for traveling users who want

to connect their own Web from anywhere in the world, for

storing, analyzing, and coordinating their activity (Dessy,

1996). Distributed computing technologies motivate scien-

tists and industries to develop modular architectures,

distributed and linked through specific networks in contrast

to centralized and rigid organizations. Advances in software

technology have been transforming the world of integration

into compatible systems and devices by establishing an open

connectivity standard, agreed by the manufacturers, which

will provide plug-and-play communication and interoper-

ability between field devices, control systems, and enter-

prise-wide business applications.

In the year 2000, the Venture Development Corporation

reported that PC-based control application products are

forecasted to have double-digit growth rates through 2005.

The Siemens Automation and Drives group forecast that the

number of PC-based automation solutions will grow rapidly

by 20% each year.

3. Research objectives and methodology

The developments of the personal computer and

subsequent quality improvements have fuelled the

explosion in information processing equipment (Barua and

Lee, 1997). The mystery is why this massive computer

investment has not resulted in measured productivity gains

in the service sector. Based on the observation, not every

firm that tried CIM was successful and the fact that many

manufacturing concerns are significantly declining in their

expectations about CIM (Gupta, 1996) leads us to the

possibility that the success of integrated CIM requires some

critical factors. The primary objective of this research is to

provide some important factors on the key technologies of

information technology, managerial and communication

issues that must be addressed for designing and implement-

ing integrated CIM systems that lead to the concept of

totally integrated automation system and to identify a set of

CSFs for the development and implementation of totally

integrated flexible automation systems called totally

integrated automation systems.

The factors that are critical to the successful implemen-

tation of IAS are identified and discussed based on a review

of literature, a field study that surveyed different types of

manufacturing firms and series of interviews with a number

of working professionals and managers of three leading

automation and system components exhibitions held in

Europe. (An automation and system components exhibition,

where more than 690 exhibitors from almost 20 countries

exhibited their product developments and solutions; another

exhibition where more than 8000 companies from 60

countries exhibited their products with an impressive array

of trends, innovations and future markets in information

technology, telecommunications and automation, embra-

cing almost every type of equipment, as well as systems,

stand-alone solutions, integrated solutions and concepts

projected the supply and demand of the global market; and

in an another machine building and automation exhibition

where nearly 28,000 visitors flocked through the aisles to

see 750 exhibits.)

The field study consists of an interview instrument.

Within each firm, a plant manager was identified as the

target for the questionnaire. The study variables are the type

of industry, the relationship of the project to organizational

structure, the criteria used to measure the success, and the

factors related to the project, project manager, project team

members, organization, and the environment. Success is

measured by indicators as better return on equity, reduced

throughput, reduced cost, improved quality, enhanced

competitiveness, better control and quick response. These

factors were then summarized and compared to four specific

sets of CSFs in related areas. These studies assess the

impacts of the identified factors on the benefits of IAS and

develop a conceptual framework for measuring success and

show the relationship among the success factors in the

development and implementation of IAS. Due to the fact

that control and automation systems are characterized by

constant technological change and that CSFs in integrated

automation system development have not been published,

the chosen research strategy is ideally suited to the defined

problem.

4. PC-based control and automation—future

proof technology

In the 1980s, with the advent of the PC, every computer

had the necessary hardware and software for operation.

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488 479

The new client/server technology makes the processing

power of a PC comparable with midrange systems as well as

mainframes (Johnny et al., 1998). The client/server

configuration also provided scalability so that hundreds of

computers could be linked. Client/server architecture

facilitates the application of PC-based systems to all the

“islands of automation” on the typical plant floor. Open

system architecture allows enterprises to build distributed

applications that provide true enterprise resource planning

and customer-oriented manufacturing system capabilities

(Martin, 1995). Low cost communication technology,

configurable local area networks (LANs) and configurable

wide area networks (WANs) produce a flexible, scalable,

distributed system to make CIM become a reality.

Architecture: Formerly, the manufacturers had been

forced to use a multi-layered hierarchy in their operations.

New technological advances in client/server architecture

have allowed them to utilize PCs with terminal server

capabilities in order to create highly networked automation

solutions. The users can now mix Windows and Linux based

PC control systems to create integrated automation

solutions that rely on standard hardware and software.

The PC, an excellent all around solution: The number

of PC-based automation solutions is growing because no

other system has such a large selection of hardware and

software options (Siemens, 2001). Many automation tasks,

including open- and closed loop control and motion

control, have been added to the classic PC tasks. PCs are

now breaking down the boundaries between technical and

office-based IT.

PC-based automation, brilliant perspectives: One of the

most important requirements that the manufacturers of

automation systems have to meet is an open platform. Only

PCs offer a totally open platform; no other system exists in

the market with so many hardware and software options for

any automation task such as technology interface, open and

closed control, operator control, process control and

monitoring, visualization, measured value recording, data

processing, industrial image processing, communication,

motion control, or input–output distribution (Siemens,

2001). PC-based control offers the connection to master

control systems via industrial Ethernet and to the fieldbus

peripheral. Visualization and PC-based control can be

ideally united in one PC.

The enormous range of PC hardware and software

options makes PCs amazingly versatile. The availability

of interfacing cards suitable for motion control systems

and other functions allows PCs to be used for mass

applications in an office and factory environment. Bringing

together the worlds of technical and commercial IT by

interfacing with high-level management systems, the

so-called manufacturing of execution systems becomes

easy. The options for upgrading automation solutions to

integrated Intranet and Internet technologies have been

improving all the time. It is already possible to control

and monitor remote systems and installations. Systems

capable of transmitting vital information via the Internet

reduce maintenance time, optimize manufacturing

sequences and capacity planning. PC-based control offers

software for quality functionality including the definitions

and benefits of applying statistical process control and

statistical quality control. PCs can now perform automation

functions that once required dedicated controllers such as

programmable logic controllers.

5. Open system, fieldbus and Ethernet technology

Open system: One of the most important requirements

for an open control system is the ability to integrate off-

the-shelf hardware and software components into a control

system which supports standard environments. The develo-

pment of an open control system, which operates on a

standard PC hardware, enables end users to optimize their

electronic equipment according to their custom require-

ments (Pritschow et al., 1997). An open architecture

controller can only achieve the integration of control

software from different controller manufacturers into a

manufacturing system. The characteristics of the reference

architecture are modularity, interoperability, portability,

and scalability (Pritschow et al., 1994). From a user point

of view, the main advantages of open systems can be

grouped into increased interactivity of systems from

different vendors and the ability to upgrade components

to provide increased performance, availability, etc. when

the need arises (Rahkonen, 1995). Hence computers, which

provide the controller functions, communication, and

operating functions, play an important role in modern

manufacturing. A well-defined interface can be achieved

(Rahkonen, 1995) either as a de jure standard defined by a

formally recognized standardization organization or by the

fact that a product becomes widely adopted and used as a

de facto standard.

Fieldbus: Optimizing a plant requires that the typical

hierarchy of networks, gateways and systems be ‘flattened’ to

allow fast, easy integration of sensors/actuators, automation

systems and plant application software packages. The

development of a new, advanced network communication

technology, a foundation for digital control systems, which

came to be known as ‘fieldbus’ in the mid-1980s, has had a

profound effect on plant automation strategies (Fieldbus,

2001). Bi-directional, multi-drop fieldbus systems operating

at the device level of the plant network hierarchy are used to

interconnect transmitters, positioners and other field devices.

Fig. 2 illustrates the fieldbus concept and the components that

can be connected (Tian et al., 2000).

Major end users have found that fieldbus provides up to

75% reduction in instrumentation and control maintenance

costs. The availability of remote device diagnostic infor-

mation in a fieldbus system ensures that maintenance

personnel only work on equipment that is actually in need of

repair. In addition, fieldbus improves single loop integrity

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488480

by locating device scheduling and proportional integral

derivative (PID) control in the field, and provides built-in

redundancy with a backup link active scheduler.

Ethernet: Industrial Ethernet has emerged as a major

component in today’s plant network hierarchy. The Ethernet

network, which is used at the host level as a high-speed plant

‘backbone’, is intended for subsystem integration and high

performance control applications. Just as fieldbus at the

device level revolutionized modern control schemes,

Ethernet dramatically simplifies the host level of the system

by simplifying enterprise control and remote input–output

networking. Because Ethernet at the host level takes the

place of the control and plant networks, it is often regarded

as more of a ‘hostbus’ than a ‘fieldbus’.

Together, Ethernet and device-level fieldbus provide an

open solution for ‘sensors to the boardroom’ integration, by

supplying a common specification for access to automation

systems in the field (Tian et al., 2000). Using this common

specification, data servers can easily access plant data and

provide the client/server communications needed for

corporate management information system and business

application packages. This tight integration of plantwide

data also allows manufacturers to realize additional benefits

from enterprise resource planning. Because high speed (100

Mbit/s) Ethernet networks use standard Ethernet cabling

and low-cost commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment,

plants can migrate to this technology economically.

Combining high performance and low-cost, COTS Ethernet

technology with device-level fieldbus provides the archi-

tecture needed for cost-effective, plantwide information

integration.

Ethernet and the TCP/IP protocol have also been

achieving more and more acceptance (Siemens, 2001) in

industrial automation technology. Major technical advances

such as fast Ethernet switching and full duplex communi-

cation have turned the Ethernet into a powerful communi-

cation system with many benefits for industrial users and

manufacturers.

6. Modular concepts with distributed intelligence

Distributed object computing paradigm allows objects

to be distributed across a heterogeneous network, and

allows each of the components to interoperate as a unified

system. Modular approach can radically simplify systems

development. Distributed object models and tools extend

an object-oriented programming system (Szyperski, 1998;

Yau and Xia, 1998). The objects may be distributed in

different computers throughout a network, which resides

within their own dynamic library outside of an appli-

cation, and yet appear as though they were local within

the application. This is the essence of plug-and-play

software. Component-based development substance the

‘industrialization’ of software development. This principle

applies equally to software system development for

manufacturing process, allowing unpredicted quality,

speed of development, and highly effective change

management.

The major advance in modular plant and machine

construction is distributed intelligence to field devices,

drives and peripheral devices with programmable intelli-

gence, such as a programmable logic controller (PLC) core.

The automation architecture provides mechanisms for

composing modular components and allows distributed

objects to refer to one another by function and capability,

irrespective of their location (Griss, 1997; IBM 2000).

Objects communicate using a universal streaming data

“bus” standard. They can move around, be re-connected

dynamically, and seamlessly resume previously established

connections with one another. The designer has to group

functions in modules in such a way that their interdepen-

dence is minimized.

Among the available component infrastructure tech-

nologies, the standardized technologies are Object

Management Group’s CORBA (Common Object Request

Broker Architecture), Microsoft’s Component Object

Model (COM), Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)

and Distributed COM (DCOM), and Sun’s JavaBeans

and Enterprise JavaBeans (Kozaczynski and Booch,

1998).

7. Information-based manufacturing

Factory production processes have matured to a stage

where the manufacturing of product families in small batch

sizes is becoming increasingly economically viable. This

achievement can be largely attributed to the tremendous

advances in information technology over the past two

decades (Aggarwal, 1995). The flow of information from

one process to another can be considered as a lubricating

force, which improves both productivity and product

quality. As the existing islands of technology are pulled

together and the understanding of process dynamics

improves, a more controlled manufacturing process is

Fig. 2. Fieldbus architecture.

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488 481

exercised. It is this tighter process control that is shaping the

path towards truly configurable manufacturing.

The Web infrastructure: Manufacturing and auto-

mation have always gone hand in hand. Moving from

manual labor to relays and toggle switches to today’s

smart application software, manufacturing industries have

embraced automation as a means of increasing pro-

ductivity. With the advent of the Internet, the demands

on manufacturing are shifting again and the pace of

change is accelerating. As people have become used to

information at their fingertips, markets now want

products to arrive more quickly with greater customiza-

tion. Manufacturing information portals provides custo-

mizable user windows for moving plant data from the

factory to any global user who needs them. Portal

visibility on this information provides awareness of

problems to minimize downtime and optimize equipment

effectiveness. By using today’s portal technology such as

the Internet and Intranets, information-based manufactur-

ing uses the right information to know what products to

make, when to make them, and then making them at the

best possible means. The key components of information-

based manufacturing (Shaw, 2000) are shown in Fig. 3.

Organizations, information-sharing, and coordination:

Information-based manufacturing is characterized by the

ready availability of information and a focus on connec-

tivity and its capability to adapt and react. Consequently, the

organization’s structure is more agile. Quick-response,

adaptability, flexibility, and fault tolerance make such a

framework appealing (Shaw, 2000). The Web facilitates

coordination among the units, reducing the inventories and

the cycle times. Many companies have perfected elements

of the virtual factory but few companies have exhibited the

fully functional environment required. This is the hope and

challenge of information-based manufacturing.

8. Information technology and CIM

IT helps in the enhancement of a CIM company’s

competitive advantage in three major ways: by changing

industry’s structure and thus creating new rules of

competition, by creating competitive advantage through

the development of new ways of outperforming the

company’s competitors, and by creating entirely new

business, often from within a company’s existing oper-

ations (Spyros, 1997). The impacts of modern information

technology on enterprise provide intelligent and auton-

omous decision-making processes; and enable distributed

operations with collaboration along communication net-

works. All three categories lead to agility (Huang et al.,

2000). IT enables enterprises to intelligently alter them-

selves and the way they interact, collaborate with each

other to best adapt to various customer demand changes in

tastes, design, time, and quantity, while keeping the cost at

a reasonable level. Such enterprises are hence termed agile

enterprises. For decades, researchers have been seeking to

develop an agile enterprise that can cope with the above

limitations, while keeping costs at a reasonable level.

Modern IT seems to have paved a way to achieve this goal.

However, to effectively benefit from IT for agility, an

enterprise must still rely on detailed and systematic design

and implementation.

9. Integrated automation

To satisfy the conflicting and competitive demands of

today’s market, the research trends in manufacturing

automation and control realized the effective integration

of a number of available advanced manufacturing technol-

ogies. Technology integration includes the management

strategy, enterprise integration, network communication,

implementation of advanced tools and technologies, system

modeling and application of artificial intelligence (Hoffman,

1992). All components and tools are coordinated and

integrated with one another for easy programmable controls,

communications and operator interfaces. All tools access a

single, shared database. Communication is integrated

throughout the company from the control level to the field

level and communication is consistent with IA with the use

of fieldbus and Ethernet (Siemens, 2001). Fig. 4 illustrates

the integration of different levels of enterprise.

Fig. 3. Components of information-based manufacturing.

Fig. 4. Totally integrated automation.

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488482

Integrated CIM system consists of three levels of

integration covering physical system integration, application

integration and business integration (Spyros, 1997) leading

to the total integration of the manufacturing enterprise and is

called integrated automation system. System integration has

several objectives (Shaw et al., 1997) such as establishing

good communication and coordination procedures, promot-

ing collaboration among a group of networked participants,

sharing information among different entities across an

information system, maintaining a variety of functional

modules to make an information system flexible and

adaptive, efficiently managing the coordination between

different information systems in an enterprise, and con-

solidating various business functions in information systems

to make the processes more efficient. Some crucial issues in

system integration involve the identification of coordination

mechanisms, the representation of different roles and

functions, and performance measures.

IA capabilities enable firms to turn environmental threats

(rapid market changes, increasing complexity, declining

opportunities, economics of sale) into opportunities for

gaining a competitive advantage (Gupta, 1996). The easy

availability of production and field data facilitates quick

product design changes, resulting in better engineering and

quality.

Connection to the IT world, integration of all business

processes: The new industrial framework “vertical IT

integration” connects the automation level of IA with the

operational control and plant management level up to

corporate management and planning level, and links

conventional IT applications with the real-time world of

the automation level. IA achieves transparency and creates a

consistent flow of data (Siemens, 2001). The Internet makes

it possible for manufacturing processes to be incorporated in

a worldwide flow of information.

Openness and modularity: IA is open for a broad

spectrum of field devices. Modular machine and system

structures to automation solutions consist of technological

modules with their own control intelligence resulting in

shorter commissioning times and greater flexibility.

Component-based automation: Networking and fieldbus

technology considerably simplifies automation in plant and

machine construction. By dividing the machines or systems

into manageable, autonomous groups, operating units can

be tested in advance. This dramatically reduces the cost of

on-site commissioning. At the interface, access is only made

available to those variables that are required for the

interaction with other components as well as for diagnostics,

visualization and connection to the planning and execution

systems. A component-based system supports elements

conforming to certain standards and allows instances of

these elements to be plugged into the framework (Szyperski,

1998).

Flexible reactions: Instead of stand-alone machines, the

individual modules are combined to suit customer

requirements. Even plant expansions can be completed

quickly, as the modules operate independent of one

another to a great extent. E-manufacturing offers the

opportunity to shorten the order-to-fulfillment cycle and to

guarantee high product quality. Although the benefits of

integrated technologies are very difficult to quantify, PCs

provide a competitive advantage by linking new and

existing hardware and software of the technologies,

together with database management systems and data

communications systems into a coordinated and efficiently

managed process.

10. CSFs for the implementation of integratedautomation system

Several authors have identified CSFs that deal with

subjects related to manufacturing automation. For example,

CSFs have been identified for new product development

(Lynn et al., 1998, IT planning and requirements’

determination (Farrell, 1996, enterprise wide information

management system projects (Sumner, 1999), the alignment

of information system (IS) plans with business plans

(Thompson and Ang, 1999) factory automation (Takanaka,

1991), and software maintenance issues (Ettlie and Getner,

1989). We identified a set of CSFs for the development/

implementation of IAS.

Discussion of CSFs: The following is a summary of the

identified CSFs. Each CSF is accompanied by a short

description and is compared to similar findings reported in

the related literature.

Critical Success Factor 1: Formulate a simplified and

standardized project plan prior to the design of

Integrated Automation System.

The effective integration of available advanced manu-

facturing technologies starts with project planning. Before

introducing new technologies, a company must assess

whether these technologies will direct the organization to

specific goal, primarily to improve the competitive position.

This assessment should lead to the development of a master

plan that directs the allocation of resources and day-to-day

operation of the company as it strives to implement IASs.

This CSF is supported by Aggarwal (1995) and Takanaka

(1991).

Critical Success Factor 2: Develop an organization

structure with effective interface for communication,

coordination, monitoring, and documentation.

One of the most critical factors for the successful

implementation is top management support. Such a support

can be achieved if the organization structure is built in such

a manner to provide an effective interface for effective

communication, coordination, monitoring, feedback and

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488 483

documentation. This CSF is supported by Pinto and Slevin

(1987) and Sayles and Chandler (1971).

Critical Success Factor 3: Assemble personnel teams

with the necessary experience and motivation to properly

implement IA solutions.

A well-organized and good managerial team is necessary

to properly coordinate implementation activities. Personnel

with the experience necessary to effectively utilize the

available resources and technology are needed to design and

build IA systems. A well-defined work breakdown system

should be developed to allow project teams to function

effectively. Team behavior with regard to performance and

information sharing should be emphasized. Team members

responsible for the implementation of IA must have a clear

understanding of the goals and needs of company manage-

ment. Communication between group members must be

dynamic and be able to relate the goals of management, the

results and progress of their implementation. Documen-

tation that details these plans and their results should be

available to all members of these projects so that they can

understand both their responsibilities and see the results of

the project development. This factor is described by the

work of Aggarwal (1995), Pinto and Slevin (1987) and the

work of Gupta (1996).

Critical Success Factor 4: The functional structure of

both manufacturing and management should be devel-

oped as modular units.

It is necessary to divide processes and projects into

manageable, autonomous operating units called modules.

The modules should be constructed independently by

individual teams and be tested independently. This reduces

the cost of on-site commissioning. Alfieri and Brandimarte

(1997) stress the importance of this concept. Their work is

also supported by that of Cho et al. (1996).

Critical Success Factor 5: The manufacturing and

management system modules developed previously must

be integrated in a hybrid of both bottom–up and top–

down approach.

A well-defined development plan is essential for the

successful implementation of IA. This approach must be

accompanied by a clearly defined vision of the system that is

communicated not only to management but also to the

individual project members who will ultimately be respon-

sible for the successful implementation of the plan. Alfieri

and Brandimarte (1997) and Takanaka (1991) discuss this

factor in their work.

Critical Success Factor 6: The performance of the

finished system should be evaluated and modifications

based on the evaluation should be made to keep the

system operation efficient.

Once implemented, the system should be subjected to

evaluations that will allow the effectiveness of the system to

be gauged. After evaluations have been completed,

modifications must be made that will allow the system to

be maintained properly. Future evaluations should include

updated software, new manufacturing technology, and

personnel changes must also be taken into account.

Aggarwal (1995) also discusses this factor as does Takanaka

(1991).

11. Study of critical success factors in related

areas of IAS

In this section, the six CSFs for IAS development are

compared to those in related areas: project management,

factory automation, managing large systems and new

product development. These four areas are closely related

to integrated automation system development. This com-

parison is used to support the CSFs identified in this paper

and to identify issues that are unique to integrated

automation system development.

Table 1 displays six CSFs of project management as

determined by Pinto and Slevin (1987), six CSFs of factory

automation determined by Takanaka (1991) and five CSFs

for managing large systems (1971) and five CSFs for new

product development (1998). These CSFs were chosen for

their comprehensiveness in scope and for their project-level

focus. A comparison of these four lists with the six CSFs for

IAS development identified in this study is summarized

below:

CSF 1: Takanaka’s (1991) CSF (4) identifies the need to

standardize and simplify parts, modules and products which

may lead to simplification of the process as well as broader

issues such as plant layout. Pinto and Slevin (1987) CSF (1)

address the need of a clearly defined goal. The simplification

of the mechanical components and processes of an IAS is

particularly important.

CSF 2: Lester’s (1998) CSF (2,5), and Sayles and

Chandler’s (1971) CSF (3,4,5) suggest the need for well-

defined organizational structure showing control and

responsibilities, monitoring and feedback system, and

addressing the need for effective interface with top

management, for effective communication and coordi-

nation. This will improve the shared vision of the project

and due reorganization of the individual.

CSF 3: Pinto and Slevin’s (1987) CSF (2,4) and Lester’s

CSF (4) suggest that effective teams are critical. This study

identified the need for a specific method to design teams,

which is directly related to the design of the system. In

addition, communication is improved and conflicts are

reduced due to cross-functional membership. Lester’s

(1998) CSF (2) and Takanaka’s (1991) CSF (3) suggest

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488484

that effective communication between team members can

promote a common understanding and can reduce conflicts

within personnel. It is also important in providing a shared

vision of the project. Performance measures and self-

critiques are the feedback mechanisms to take corrective

actions if they are needed.

CSF 4: Takanaka’s CSF (4) deals with the need of

designing automation systems that utilize standard modules.

This standardization allows for the development of new

parts, tools, and processes to be incorporated rapidly into

product development. Standardized modules of the entire

management and manufacturing system within a company

will allow similar benefits to be realized as new techniques

and technologies that can be rapidly integrated without

causing major downtime in corporate activities.

CSF 5: This factor is identified in Takanaka’s (1991)

CSF (1) for the effective integration of the modules into the

proposed system. Initial automation is implemented with

controllers in a stand-alone fashion, then integration of

different components in a hybrid manner and higher-level

control is established through communication networks.

This is a specific strategy for systematic integration with

clearly defined objectives.

CSF 6: Takanaka’s (1991) CSF (5) identifies the need for

critical evaluation of the finished system. One cannot gauge

the effectiveness of a finished solution without any

standards by which it can be measured. The advantages

found should be spread throughout the system and

disadvantages should be corrected in a timely fashion to

maintain system efficiency.

The comparison of five sets of CSFs (integrated

automation, project management, factory automation,

managing large systems and new product development)

indicates that some of the CSFs identified for IA are

common with other similar fields of application. Common

CSFs tend to deal with the need for simple communication

and planning within a company, proper team building and

management, and resource allocation. However, the CSFs

appear to address a larger field of applicability. CSFs

dealing uniquely with IA focus on the ability to treat

individual manufacturing units and management processes

as modules that must be standardized and integrated in order

to achieve management goals.

12. A framework for measuring the success

and the influence on other factors

This study assesses the impacts of the identified factors

on the benefits of IAS and develops a conceptual framework

for measuring success and shows the relationship, influence

among the success factors in the development and

implementation of IAS. We grouped the factors into:

† The factors related to the project.

† The factors related to the organization.

† The factors related to the project team.

† The factors related to the functional structure of the

manufacturing system.

† The factors related to the system integration.

† The factors related to the performance evaluation.

Fig. 5 shows a research model developed as a framework for

empirically evaluating the successful integration, the critical

performance indicators (CPIs) and critical performance

measures (CPMs). Its success is a multidimensional

attribute that may be expressed through various measures

such as assessment of the success of the integration process

and integrated systems, the ability to exploit opportunities

arising from the merger, the ability to avoid problems

stemming from the merger and the end user satisfaction with

the integration process and integrated system. This results in

Table 1

A comparative study of CSFs in project management, factory automation, managing large systems and new product development

Project management

(Pinto and Slevin (1987))

Factory automation

(Takanaka (1991))

Managing large systems

(Sayles and Chandler (1971))

New product development

(Lester (1998))

Clearly defined goals Strategy for systematic

integration with clearly defined

objectives

Project managers competence Senior management

commitment

Competent project management Analysis and evaluation

of resource requirements

Scheduling Organizational structure and

processes that support the

venture

Top management support Establish milestones and inform

the people involved

Control systems and responsibilities Attractive new product

concepts being available for

development

Competent project team members Standardization and

simplification of parts, modules

and products

Monitoring and feedback Venture teams with appropriate

staffing and resources

Sufficient resource allocation Evaluation: identify advantages

and disadvantages

Continuing involvement on the project Project management able to

focus on reducing uncertainties

Adequate communication Change the management

accounting system

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488 485

effective planning and scheduling, effective communication

and coordination, effective use of managerial skills,

technology, effective control and monitoring, and avail-

ability of resources.

Indicators of successful implementation of IA solutions

include an increase in product quality, productivity and a

decrease in equipment downtime, collection of new

customers and widespread usage of IA procedures within

the company. Some indicators of unsatisfactory IA

implementation are an inefficient communication structure

marked by frequent breakdowns in communication systems

between management and manufacturing, the integration of

new modules or technology which is excessively time-

consuming and expensive, the failure to produce meaningful

reactions and lack of reduction in production lead-time. In

order to successfully implement IA, the management must

have a strong commitment to the design process and the

ability to overcome interorganizational barriers and

must also exercise effective program execution to ensure

that management’s implementation plan is successfully

carried out.

Neglected imperatives: The points that are ignored by

many enterprises include lack of long-term goal, failure to

carry out feasibility study, technical and behavioral

uncertainty, lack of real vision, cost justification, vendor

selection, and insufficient employee training. A company

must establish long- and short-term goals and standards

against which the goals are measured. A detailed analysis of

the current manufacturing process and supporting oper-

ations is needed to better understand how automation and

integration will achieve both business and manufacturing

goals. The ability and technical know-how should be

analyzed before selecting the right vendor. There must be

an initiative for people to update their technical and

management skills. This is particularly important when

new computers and communication technologies are

introduced.

13. Conclusion

Therefore, as not every factor will be of equal importance

to an enterprise, it follows that a relatively limited number

of factors will be critically important for the successful

implementation of IAS and is derived from the enterprise’s

internal and external operating environments, and arises

from a wide variety of events, circumstances, conditions of

activities which require special attention of the enterprise

management. The knowledge and understanding of these

factors will assist firms in the successful implementation of

Fig. 5. A framework showing CSFs, CPIs, and CPMs.

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488486

IAS and enable them to further improve their confidence

and competitive ability to maximize their services and

returns. The pitfalls in implementation come from neglect-

ing CSFs and making unrealistic assumptions. The charac-

teristics of these factors show that these CSFs are clearly

actionable, measurable and controllable through the use of

critical performance indicators (CPIs) and associated

critical performance measures (CPMs). These findings add

to our academic understanding of the functional relation-

ships among variables that affect the innovation adoption

decision. These factors also reveal the fact that system

integration should be achieved in a cohesive manner to

provide a complete and intelligent solution to the manu-

facturing industries.

Future research on issues such as simplification,

standardization, and communication must be technically

addressed using analysis and design methodologies, and

software development tools. Flexible cost-effective distrib-

uted factory architecture will give the capability to survive

and prosper in a competitive environment of continuous and

unpredictable change, allowing companies to react quickly

and effectively to rapidly changing markets.

Acknowledgements

We express our sincere gratitude to the German DAAD-

IQN program for providing facilities to carry out this

research in the University of Siegen, Germany.

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K. Dhinesh Kumar is a full-time Ph.D.

research scholar in Anna University,

Chennai, India, under the guidance of Dr.

L. Karunamoorthy, Assistant Professor in

Mechanical Engineering. He has com-

pleted a part of his research under the

guidance of Professor Dr. Hubert Roth,

Professor and Director, Institute of Control

Engineering, University of Siegen,

Germany. He did his graduation in mech-

anical engineering, post-graduation in

production engineering, and has about 10

years of industrial and teaching experience. He is now doing research in

mechatronics, CIM systems, enterprise modelling and integration, and

automation engineering.

Dr. L. Karunamoorthy, B.Sc., B. Tech,

M.E., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in

Mechanical Engineering Department,

Anna University, Chennai, India. He has

17 years of teaching and research experi-

ence. He is a life member in ISTE, ISME

and ISNDT. He is currently guiding 11

Ph.D. research scholars and two M.S. (by

research) scholars. He has 33 research

publications. His areas of interest are

metal cutting, automation and

mechatronics.

Prof. Dr. Hubert Roth studied Electrical

Engineering at the University Karlsruhe,

Germany, from 1974 until 1979. He did his

Ph.D. at the Institute of Automatic Control

Engineering at University Karlsruhe in

1983. Then, he worked for five years in the

space industry. In the year 1988, he

became a Professor for Control Engineer-

ing at the University of Applied Sciences

in Weingarten, Germany. Since 2001, he is

the Head of the Institute for Automatic

Control Engineering at the University of

Siegen, Germany. His main interests are control of mechatronics

systems, especially in the area of robotics and autonomous guided

vehicles and remote control aspects.

T.T. Mirnalinee is a Lecturer in the

Department of Computer Science and

Engineering in C.S.I. Institute of Technol-

ogy, Thovalai, Kanyakumari District,

Tamilnadu, India. She did her graduation

in computer engineering and post-gradu-

ation in software engineering. She has

eight years of teaching experience and

guiding students’ projects.

K. Dhinesh Kumar et al. / Technovation 25 (2005) 477–488488