Patent ID: 8121882

Claim:
A computer implemented method for planning in a manufacturing process, the computer implemented method comprising: a computer creating a library of standard manufacturing processes, wherein the library comprises a plurality of master process objects; the computer, responsive to generating a manufacturing project, selecting a set of master process objects from the plurality of master process objects in the library; the computer, associating the set of master process objects with the manufacturing project to create a set of process usage objects within the manufacturing project, wherein the set of master process objects in the library of standard manufacturing processes are linked to the manufacturing project without copying the set of master process objects into the manufacturing project; and the computer, populating the set of usage process objects in the manufacturing project with information specific to the manufacturing project; and the computer, configuring a project manager to generate manufacturing projects, wherein a set of master process objects are selected from the plurality of master process objects and wherein the project manager associates the set of master process objects with a manufacturing project to create a set of process usage objects within the manufacturing project, wherein the set of master process objects in the library of standard manufacturing processes are linked to the manufacturing project without copying the set of master process objects into the manufacturing project, wherein the project manager populates the set of usage process objects in the manufacturing project with information specific to the manufacturing project, and wherein the set of usage process objects contain only the information specific to the manufacturing project.