Computer-Integrated Manufacturing

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Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Gisela Lanza* and Steven Peters Institute of Production Science (wbk), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

Synonyms CIM; Computer-aided industry

Definition Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) is an approach to integrate production-related information and control entire production processes, automated lines, plants, and networks by using computers and a common database (please compare: Abramovici and Schulte 2004; Kalpakjian and Schmid 2006; Laplante 2005). Moreover, managerial philosophies improve organizational and personnel efficiency (Alavudeen and Venkateshwaran 2008).

Theory and Application Introduction Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) coexists of two components. Both hard- and software components of computer systems are considered to be indispensable for the enhancement of manufacturing (Kabitzsch et al. 2001). Thereby, each individual island of automation uses the full capabilities of digital computers while computer-integrated manufacturing comprises the integration and consolidation of these island solutions (Alavudeen and Venkateshwaran 2008). Besides their overarching integration through software applications and the support of a common database, islands of automation also adopt hard- and software components themselves (Andersin 1993). The main methodologies of the CIM approach are computer-aided design (CAD) and computeraided manufacturing (CAM), which are essential to reduce throughput times in the organization. Other considerable components of the CIM are computer-aided process planning (CAPP), computer numerical control machine tools (CNC), direct numerical control machine tools (DNC), flexible machining systems (FMS), computer-aided testing (CAT), automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), and automated guided vehicles (AGV). CAD and CAM are often considered to be one CAD/CAM integrating tool between design and manufacturing (Madsen et al. 2002).

History Approached by the US Air Force, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is credited with pioneering the development of both CAD and CAM (Radhakrishnan and Subramanyan 2007). However, the computer technology in the late 1940s and 1950s could not meet the requirements of sophisticated control systems, drives, and programming techniques. Over the next decades, major innovations in the computer industry evolved. In 1952, the MIT developed the numerical control *Email: [email protected] Page 1 of 4

CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35950-7_6676-5 # CIRP 2014

(NC) (Reintjes 1991). By the mid-1960s, mainframe computers were used to operate these numerical control machines which were then called DNC (Reilly 2003). Subsequently, computer technology progressed and numerical control became soft wired. This then led to the development of CNC in the late 1960s. Although the precise terminology was only introduced 8 years later, the concept of computerintegrated manufacturing was first introduced by Joseph Harrington in 1973. Harrington emphasi