The Enterprise Model

Enterprise Models in Manufacturing

What is an Enterprise Model

An Enterprise Model can be something very sophisticated and elaborate, or it might be represented with a simple sketch of the plant layout . An enterprise model is a representation of a perception of an enterprise. It can be made of several sub-models, including (but not limited) to process models, data models, resource models, and organizational models.

The Enterprise Model can be viewed from different angles. In practice, for sake of clarity it is not possible to show all aspects of the enterprise in one single model, the model would become very complex and hard to work with. Usually the enterprise model contains those aspects that are crucial for solving specific problems. In a manufacturing context, important aspects to include in the model are:

• Processes: Manufacturing and business processes (administrative, management, finance, etc)
  
• Products: Product related information, all technical data of product and the manufacturing processes that are necessary to produce the product.
  
• Resources: People, physical machines, devices, and applications (software packages)
  
• Raw Material
  
• Information: Anything that can be represented by data
  
• Organization: Organizational and management related issues (organizational charts, goals and objectives)
  
• Environment: The enterprise environment, business constraints, legal issues, government regulations and other enterprise, business partners, etc.
  
  

The difference between different enterprise models might lay in the purpose of the model, the content of the model or the level of abstraction. Any kind of enterprise model serves a specific purpose, of which there are many but fundamentally any enterprise model aims to make people understand, communicate, develop, and elaborate solutions to existing business problems.