An introductory text to CIM in both its engineering and management context. It shows how modern concepts can be related within an integrated environment. Features include: CAD/CAM, data communications/networks; case studies; and a bibliography/glossary.

For courses in Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, CAD/CAM, Innovations in Technology, and Advances in Manufacturing. For Community College students or 4 year college students. A unique new text whose emphasis on the underlying principles of Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) creates a treatment that is effectively balanced between the needs of the technologist and management considerations of CIM. After an introduction to the basics of CIM, coverage addresses its three enabling technologies computers, communications, and databases Metals and Alloys followed by discussion of CIM technologies for discrete- parts production. A final chapter looks at emerging technologies and management innovations and their impact on the field.

Written for the technologist or engineer who wants a clear picture of the basic concepts and real-world application of computer-integrated manufacturing, this book's features include: systems approach - demonstration of how CIM fits into current manufacturing systems and how the technology is used to solve actual industrial problems; interdisciplinary coverage - which includes engineering, business and production considerations for decision making; applications - the CIM model used here is consistent with the SME new manufacturing enterprise wheel developed by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers; and simulation software - the problem sets refer to simulation software so that readers can see a manufacturing operation under realistic production constraints.

This book will give a competitive edge to students of manufacturing, managers in industry, and anyone involved in specifying, implementing and using CIM systems.

The Current state of expectations is that Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) will ulti mately determine the industrial growth of world nations within the next few decades. Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), Robotics together with Knowledge and Information Based Systems (KIBS) and Com munication Networks are expected to develop to a mature state to respond effectively to the managerial requirements of the factories of the future that are becoming highly integrated and complex. CIM represents a new production approach which will allow the factories to deliver a high variety of products at a low cost and with short production cycles. The new technologies for CIM are needed to develop manufacturing environments that are smarter, faster, close-cou pled, integrated, optimized, and flexible. Sophistication and a high degree of specialization in materials science, artificial intelligence, communications technology and knowledge-information science techniques are needed among others for the development of realizable and workable CIM systems that are capable of adjusting to volatile markets. CIM factories are to allow the production of a wide variety of similar products in small batches through standard but multi mission oriented designs that accommodate flexibility with specialized software.

This up-to-date and accessible text deals with the basics of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) and the many advances made in the field. It begins with a discussion on automation systems, and gives the historical background of many of the automation technologies. Then it moves on to describe the various techniques of automation such as group technology and flexible manufacturing systems. The text describes several production techniques, for example, just-in-time (JIT), lean manufacturing and agile manufacturing, besides explaining in detail database systems, machine functions, and design considerations of Numerical Control (NC) and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, and how the CIM system can be modelled. The book concludes with a discussion on the industrial application of artificial intelligence with the help of case studies, in addition to giving network application and signalling approaches. Intended primarily as a text for the undergraduate and graduate students of mechanical, production, and industrial engineering and management, the text should also prove useful for the professionals in the field.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) is the computerized handling of integrated operational processes between production planning and control, design, process planning, production, and quality assurance. The consistent application of information technology, along with modern manufacturing techniques and new organizational procedures, opens up great potential for rationalization by speeding up processes, thereby reducing stocks and improving product structure and delivery times. Following a comprehensive justification of the CIM integration principle, this book discusses the current state of applications and new demands arising from the integration principle as applied to the individual CIM components. The interfaces between business and technical information processing are considered in detail. The main emphasis, however, is on strategies for realization and implementation based on concrete experi- ence. The "Y-CIM information management" model, developed and tested at the author's institute, is presented as a procedural method for implementing CIM and demonstrated using up-to-date examples. In addition to the procedure for developing a CIM strategy, concrete sub-projects are developed which are directed at specific sector or enterprise structures. The survey of further CIM developments including design stage cost estimation, use of expert systems and inter-company process chains have proved to be effective CIM components since the first edition of this book and are now treated in the main text. Six German and five American industrial implementations are presented to illustrate the diverse areas of emphasis in the implementation sequence, and to indicate how CIM can be realized with currently available data processing tools.