Justyna Smagowicz

The paper aims to show the possibilities of using modern information technologies in production management. Successive stages of production process preparation and implementation are characterized. Information technologies that are currently being implemented in manufacturing enterprises are discussed. The focus was on the part of the process related to the product's manufacture. The paper presents the concepts of two methodological approaches to the adoption of modern information technologies: the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. The successive stages of each of these approaches are discussed. The advantage of the top-down approach is the ability to comprehensively implement various technologies, and the disadvantage is the significant level of resource commitment. The advantage of the bottom-up approach is the high efficiency of the proposed solution, and the disadvantage is the limitation of application to projects of limited size. The proposed approaches have been verified using the example of two companies: the automotive and the control automation industries. There are correlations between the choice of the methodology used and the type and extent of implementation of the technology in question. The study's key conclusion is that both approaches are applicable in practice. The most important thing in the decision-making phase is to identify the barriers and constraints related to the organization's maturity to use a given technology. Enterprises can use the study results to help them prepare for their digital transformation.

This paper presents a method for assortment–quantity production scheduling in a printing company. The company uses specialized machinery to make prints on clothing. The method is based on a study of the company’s practical operations and the production technologies used. It involves the construction of simulation and optimization models of the process. The simulation models reflect the technical aspects of the production process and the business requirements. Optimization models provide solutions that balance product sales revenue with appropriate production schedules. On this basis, managers can make resource-balanced decisions on the implementation of selected production plans, taking into account the current economic conditions of the company. The experiments used the FlexSim simulation program (by FlexSim Software Products, Inc., Orem, UT 84097 USA; v. 20.1.3.1) and the OptQuest optimization package (embedded in FlexSim), resulting in a cost-effective solution in a short time. The proposed method, thanks to the optimization of the production program, provides savings in the use of materials for production, as well as water and energy savings in the production process. Thanks to the possibility of analyzing the process without interfering with it, provided by simulation modelling, the method practically eliminates the costs and time needed to prepare the execution of new production orders. This contributes to the sustainable development of the company and provides an opportunity to assess the impact of potential business decisions in the company prior to their implementation. The method has been directly applied in a company to improve its performance. The method is scalable and can be applied to problems of varying complexity and production systems of different types and sizes. This is especially true for small- and medium-sized companies that use discrete manufacturing in the textile, metal, and furniture industries.