Smart factories can be defined as intelligent factories that produce products through IoT-based data. In order to build and operate a smart factory, various new technologies such as CPS, IoT, Big Data, and AI are to be introduced and utilized, while the implementation of a MES system that accurately and quickly collects equipment data and production performance is as important as those new technologies. First of all, it is very essential to build a smart factory appropriate to the current status of the company. In this study, what are the essential prerequisite factors for successfully implementing a smart factory was investigated. A case study has been carried out to illustrate the effect of implementing ERP and MES, and to examine the extensibilities into a smart factory. ERP and MES as an integrated manufacturing information system do not imply a smart factory, however, it has been confirmed that ERP and MES are necessary conditions among many factors for developing into a smart factory. Therefore, the stepwise implementation of intelligent MES through the expansion of MES function was suggested. An intelligent MES that is capable of making various decisions has been investigated as a prototyping system by applying data mining techniques and big data analysis. In the end, in order for small and medium enterprises to implement a low-cost, high-efficiency smart factory, the level and goal of the smart factory must be clearly defined, and the transition to ERP and MES-based intelligent factories could be a potential alternative.

Recently domestic manufacturing companies have been experiencing worsening profitability and stunted growth due to the long-term economic recession and the rapid rise of developing countries such as China and Southeast Asia. These difficulties force many companies to concentrate their core competencies on new value creation and innovation in order to gain momentum for new growth. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been considered as one of viable solutions. Among the various modules in ERP, shop floor control function in the production management module is rather limited. In order to overcome this problem, Manufacturing Execution System (MES) has been used as a subsystem which has a strong information gathering power and flexibility. Both systems interact closely with each other. In particular, ERP requires fast, accurate shop floor information at MES. This paper describes how to synchronize relevant information between ERP and MES with theory of constraints (TOC). The processing time information transmitted from the MES workplace is received at the ERP workplace. In the process, the received processing time is causing information distortion in ERP, when the information gathering standard of MES is different from the ERP information interpretation standard. The Drum-Buffer-Rope theory of TOC was applied to resolve this problem, therefore, information synchronization between both systems was made. As a precondition, the standard time of the upper ERP system was rearranged according to the capacity constraints resource. As a result, standard time restructuring has affected changes in labor costs. Standard labor costs have come close to actual ones, and information synchronization of MES transmission data has improved the reliability of standard product costs, such that it enabled various company-wide restructuring actions to be much more effective.

Changes in stress-associated biomolecules can be used as an important criterion for assessing the levels of environmental pollution because living organisms demonstrate contamination-stimulated stress responses. This study was conducted to determine the e