From Mass Production to Smart Manufacturing: an Evolutionary Trajectory and an Agenda for Future Research

The recent economic, social and technological changes at the global level have impressed a profound transformation of traditional manufacturing systems and the way they are operated. To fulfil the new market requirements of flexibility and customisation, manufacturing systems need to be designed according to horizontal and vertical integration, supporting interoperable and decentralised operations. To this purpose, manufacturing operations management and information systems need to evolve as well, shifting from a pyramidal decision–making perspective to a cross–platform smart manufacturing ecosystem. This paper aims at shedding the light on the ongoing evolution and digitalisation of operations management tools and practices, discussing how current manufacturing information systems should evolve. In particular, ERP systems can exploit the recent advances in artificial intelligence to achieve full integration inside and outside the boundaries of the factory, transforming traditional enterprise systems into Intelligent ERPs. In the evolutionary path to manufacturing operations, several research and industrial issues emerge, encompassing both technical development, e.g. standardisation, and social aspects, e.g. human integration in smart systems. For this reason, an agenda for research is finally proposed, in order to highlight the main relevant topics which both academics and practitioners need to address to support a successful smart manufacturing transformation.