CIM - An Intro

Computer integrated Manufacturing

            Computer integrated manufacturing(CIM) is a broad term covering all technologies and soft automation used to manage the resources for cost effective production of tangible goods.

• Integration – capital, human, technology and equipment
• CIM – which orchestrates the factors of production and its management.

                                      

                                     Computer   Aided     Design   (CAD)

                                 Computer   Aided  Manufacturing  (CAM)

   Flexible    Manufacturing   Systems    (FMS)

Computer   Aided  Process   Planning  (CAPP)

  

• CIM is being projected as a panacea for Discrete manufacturing type of industry, which produces 40% of all goods.

Definition of CIM:

            It describes integrated applications of computers in manufacturing. A number of observers have attempted to refine its meaning:

One needs to think of CIM as a computer system in which the peripherals, instead of being  printers, plotters, terminals and memory disks are robots, machine tools and other processing equipment. It is a little noisier and a little messier, but it’s basically a computer system.

-          Joel Goldhar, Dean, Illinois Institute of Technology

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CIM is a management philosophy, not a turnkey computer product. It is a philosophy crucial to the survival of most manufacturers because it provides the levels of product design and production control and shop flexibility to compete in future domestic and international markets.                                                                      - Dan Appleton, President, DACOM, Inc.

CIM is an opportunity for realigning your two most fundamental resources: people and technology. CIM is a lot more than the integration of mechanical, electrical, and even informational systems. It’s an understanding of the new way to manage.

-          Charles Savage, president, Savage Associates

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CIM is nothing but a data management and networking problem.

-          Jack Conaway, CIM marketing manager, DEC

The preceding comments on CIM have different emphases (as highlighted).

            An attempt to define CIM is analogous to a group of blind persons trying to describe an elephant by touching it.

“CIM is the integration of the total manufacturing enterprise through the use of integrated systems and data communications coupled with new managerial philosophies that improve organizational and personnel efficiency.”

- Shrensker, Computer Automated Systems Association of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (CASA/SME)