An integrated reference model for production planning and control in SMEs

Versatile manufacturing (VM) companies typically manufacture high variety, mainly customised products in relatively low volumes, competing for each order with other supplier companies on the basis of price, technical expertise, delivery time and punctuality. The research presented in this study is included in a wide cross‐disciplinary project which involved seven research centres. In particular, this paper aims at identifying the general requirements and guidelines for the definition of an integrated model of the order to delivery cycle in a VM environment, which can particularly be suitable for the small‐medium enterprise needs. A number of guidelines emerged, mainly in the areas of customer requirements definition and commercial configuration of customer order, supply and production planning, and intermediate and final project evaluation.