Information-Based Integration for Complex Systems

Abstract

Engineering, operations research, and management science use scientific and engineering processes to design, plan, and schedule increasingly more complex industrial systems in order to enhance performance. One can argue that the systems have grown in complexity over the years mainly due to increased strive for resource optimization combined with a greater degree of uncertainty in the system’s environment. Information is seen as one of the main resources that managers try to use in an optimal way. In this chapter we show how this resource can be used in integration issues. We introduce the problem of information-based integration, propose a solution, and illustrate the proposed solution with an example.