Analysing business processes to manage and resolve strategic issues in a manufacturing business

This paper demonstrates the value of applying heuristics to knowledge systems of business processes in a manufacturing company to resolve strategic issues and enable the attainment of strategic business goals. The manufacturing company was losing market share through not being able to get its new products to market quickly enough. The research illustrates the ‘location’ and use of information systems in a manufacturing context. The researchers collected the specific business process knowledge in the company and developed a knowledge management system and then applied heuristics to the ‘AS IS’ manufacturing process to determine better models of manufacturing that would enable faster to market product development and thus enable better strategic alignment between company expectations and realisation of market share. The paper highlights the strategic use of information systems as a means of directly solving business problems.<br />