THE PURDUE ENTERPRISE REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE

This paper presents the basic concepts which comprise the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture along with a description of its development and use. This architecture provides the capability for modelling the human component as well as the manufacturing or customer service component of any enterprise in addition to the information and control system component. This latter component is the major focus of most reference architectures and models available today for computer integrated manufacturing or complete enterprise study. This paper particularly points out those areas where this architecture differs from others available. In doing this it describes a new and unique method for defining the place of the human in the computer integrated plant or enterprise. It also develops the concept of customer service which allowed the architecture, which was originally developed for computer integrated manufacturing, to be extended to define the development and operation of any enterprise regardless of the industry or field of endeavor involved.