To enable management to exercise their functions more effectively, they require a comprehensive, accurate and immediate communication system which reaches out to embrace all the various sections of their particular industrial complex. With such a facility, it now becomes feasible to take into account current process achievements and plant conditions in formulating optimum strategy for the following peiiod and issuing the corresponding production schedule for action with the minimum of delay.The first stage in implementing such a communication system is to establish the true management objectives together with the method for assessing their achievement and relate them to the organisational structure. It is then possible to determine the various decisions that have to be taken, what corresponding data is required and the manner in which this data is to be originated. Whenever possible automatic means should be adopted but where this is not practical, reliance must be placed on the operator. As he is only human it is essential that allowances be made for his frailties and some form of protection provided against the inevitable errors he will introduce. Similarly, the content and manner in which the production schedules and corresponding action instructions are to be generated and distributed can be devised.An industrial complex is formed from a number of essentially independent process units, some of which may well have their own process control computer. Thus a comprehensive communication system will in practice generally involve the use of more than one computer of different types interconnected to form a hierarchy.The implications of equipment failure are far reaching and therefore it is essential that the design of the system ensures that such an occurrence can be accommodated.