Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) is the computerized handling of integrated business processes among all different functions in an enterprise. The consistent application of information technology, along with modern manufacturing techniques and new organizational procedures, opens up great potential for speeding up processes. This book discusses the current state of applications and new demands arising from the integration principle. It mainly emphasizes on strategies for realization and implementation based on the author's concrete experience. The "Y-CIM information management" model is presented as a procedural method for implementing CIM. The third edition has been supplemented by up-to-date specified examples of applied CIM solutions and transfer strategies.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing: From Fundamentals to Implementation is based on a course in computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) which is part of the Production Engineering Tripos for postgraduate-level students at Cambridge University. The book is intended to provide a thorough coverage of a difficult subject, and to communicate principles as well as something of current practice. This should give a firm basis of knowledge in CIM, and develop an understanding that will be valid for many years in changing business and manufacturing environments. The book covers CIM and manufacturing systems at a technical level, from description of the conventional ""islands of computerization"" to the components of CIM architecture. The business objectives of CIM are described, from analysis of the business environment to cost justification and implementation of CIM systems. CIM is seen as a business tool and not as an end in itself. Each individual and company needs to adapt the tools described in this book to best effect. Study of this book should enable postgraduate students and professional engineers to deal confidently with the subject and use CIM techniques profitably.

This book tells how to develop a successful factory information system to manage and control computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)operations. It is directed and dedicated to those people who are involved in the preservation and enhancement of historical manufacturing strength.

This book grew out of the belief that, although the potential of CIM is widely recognised, there is little understanding and great nervousness concerning the practical matter of its implementation. Are you confident that your company will find the right answers to these questions: • In which areas can CIM most significantly influence the competitive position of your company? • What information is it essential to include within a CIM plan? • How can each phase of your CIM plan be cost justified, and how should it be audited for success? • How should you set priorities for implementing the various phases of a CIM plan? • What is the significance of networking to CIM? Every company investing in CIM faces these questions but too frequently they are left unanswered. Our experience is that the implementation of CIM is primarily a management challenge not a technical one. The greatest challenge is how to make the organisational changes needed to obtain the benefits from CIM. This book is a valuable guide to anyone planning to invest in CIM.

Modern information technology has opened up new possibilities of flexibilization and cost reduction in production. The author defines CIM - Computer Integrated Manufacturing - as a concept for the structuring of industrial enterprises. Manufacturing technologies demand a CIM concept which can be realized through the capabilities of information processing available today. The idea of integrating different areas of CIM, such as production planning and control (PPC), computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM), is explained through operating chains and put into a CIM architecture based on a hierarchy of EDP systems. The stance taken in this book of defining CIM as a total concept for industrial enterprises is increasingly gaining ground. The book does not aim to put the functional details of the individual CIM components (PPC, CAD, CAP and CAM) in the foreground, but rather to emphasize the integration principles for the functional demands of the individual components. This book appeared in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1987, and within one year it had run to three editions. The author contributes to this book not only his scientific knowledge but also his experience as a consultant for implementing CIM concepts.