Abstract
Information systems are usually developed for individual enterprises. Stakeholders in supply networks (i.e. basically all parties involved, but for sure manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, consumers) are increasingly concerned about properties of products and associated processes or services which are delivered. These properties represent not only measurable physical properties (“does this product contain toxic material?”), but also properties, which are difficult or impossible to measure.
In order to answer these and many other questions, current information systems are usually inadequate. However, an interesting concept is emerging in practice: the information de-coupling point (IDP). This is a point in the supply chain or supply network, where a set of product properties are replaced by a common code that can be referenced downstream in the chain without carrying upstream details from which it was created at the IDP point.
The paper considers possibilities of using information de-coupling points for various purposes. An IDP may create redundant information, which can change over time, and which may not remain to be true over time. Moreover, an IDP has fundamental assumptions on the way in which products can be identified. This point can be illustrated with many examples from quality control, e.g. certification of cars, authentication of documents, etc.
The idea of an IDP is more general than it may seem. For example, the normal idea of a code-number carries a number of implicit assumptions on IDPs. These assumptions are investigated in the paper.
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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Beulens, A.J.M., Jansen, M.H., Wortmann, J.C. (1999). The information de-coupling point. In: Mertins, K., Krause, O., Schallock, B. (eds) Global Production Management. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing, vol 24. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35569-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35569-6_7
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