Difficulties arising from dysfunctional information systems in manufacturing SMEs – case studies

The necessity of maintaining optimal operations and becoming an agile and responsive enterprise is becoming increasingly important to survive in the global market. Consequently, all resources in the companies need to be effectively marshalled. Traditionally SMEs have concentrated on the 4Ms ± money, materials, machine and manpower but have often neglected the effective management of information, which many authors suggest is at the heart of any agile organisation. The effect is inadequate or fragmented information systems (IS) that do not address the demands of operational or the wider strategic needs of the company. The study reported here examines the diversities of problems that occur in three different companies and, compares their systems to the ideals of agile manufacturing.