NIST Manufacturing Systems Integration Program

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) is the manufacturing approach of using

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

s to control the entire production process. This integration allows individual processes to exchange information with each part. Manufacturing can be faster and less error-prone by the integration of computers. Typically CIM relies on closed-loop control processes based on real-time input from sensors. It is also known as ''flexible design and manufacturing''.

Overview

# Computer-integrated manufacturing is used in automotive,

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

, and

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

building industries. # The term "computer-integrated manufacturing" is both a method of manufacturing and the name of a computer-automated system in which individual engineering, production, marketing, and support functions of a

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

enterprise are organized. # In a CIM system functional areas such as

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

, analysis,

planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...

purchasing Purchasing is the procurement process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary gr ...

cost accounting Cost accounting is defined by the Institute of Management Accountants as "a systematic set of procedures for recording and reporting measurements of the cost of manufacturing goods and performing services in the aggregate and in detail. It includ ...

inventory control Inventory control or stock control is the process of managing stock held within a warehouse, store or other storage location, including auditing actions concerned with "checking a shop's stock". These processes ensure that the right amount of suppl ...

, and distribution are linked through the computer with factory floor functions such as materials handling and management, providing direct control and monitoring of all the operation. CIM is an example of the implementation of

information and communication technologies Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and compute ...

(ICTs) in manufacturing. CIM implies that there are at least two computers exchanging information, e.g. the controller of an arm robot and a micro-controller. CIM is most useful where a high level of ICT is used in the company or facility, such as CAD/CAM systems, and the

availability In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at ...

of process planning and its data.

History

The idea of "digital manufacturing" became prominent in the early 1970s, with the release of Dr. Joseph Harrington's book, Computer Integrated Manufacturing. However, it was not until 1984 when computer-integrated manufacturing began to be developed and promoted by machine tool manufacturers and the Computer and Automated Systems Association and Society of Manufacturing Engineers (CASA/SME). : "''CIM is the integration of total manufacturing enterprise by using integrated systems and data communication coupled with new managerial philosophies that improve organizational and personnel

efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid making mistakes or wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time while performing a task. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without waste. ...

''." ERHUM : : In a literature research was shown that 37 different concepts of CIM were published, most of them from Germany and USA. In a timeline of the 37 publications it is possible to see how the CIM concept developed over time. Also it is quite markable how different the concepts of all publications are.

Topics

Computer Integrated Manufacturing control system

Key challenges

There are three major challenges to development of a smoothly operating computer-integrated manufacturing system: * Integration of components from different suppliers: When different machines, such as CNC,

conveyor A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow ...

s and robots, are using different

communications protocols A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics, and synchronization of ...

(In the case of AGVs, even differing lengths of time for charging the batteries) may cause problems. *

Data integrity Data integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of, data accuracy and consistency over its entire Information Lifecycle Management, life-cycle. It is a critical aspect to the design, implementation, and usage of any system that stores, proc ...

: The higher the degree of automation, the more critical is the integrity of the data used to control the machines. While the CIM system saves on labor of operating the machines, it requires extra human labor in ensuring that there are proper safeguards for the data signals that are used to control the machines. *

Process control Industrial process control (IPC) or simply process control is a system used in modern manufacturing which uses the principles of control theory and physical industrial control systems to monitor, control and optimize continuous Industrial processe ...

: Computers may be used to ''assist'' the human operators of the manufacturing facility, but there must always be a competent engineer on hand to handle circumstances which could not be foreseen by the designers of the control software.

Subsystems

A computer-integrated manufacturing system is not the same as a '' "lights-out factory"'', which would run completely independent of human intervention, although it is a big step in that direction. Part of the system involves flexible manufacturing, where the

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

can be quickly modified to produce different products, or where the volume of products can be changed quickly with the aid of computers. Some or all of the following subsystems may be found in a CIM operation: Computer-aided techniques: * CAD (

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

) * CAE (

computer-aided engineering Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is the general usage of technology to aid in tasks related to engineering analysis. Any use of technology to solve or assist engineering issues falls under this umbrella. Overview Following alongside the con ...

) * CAM (

computer-aided manufacturing Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) also known as computer-aided modeling or computer-aided machining is the use of software to control machine tools in the manufacturing of work pieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most ...

) * CAPP ( computer-aided process planning) * CAQ ( computer-aided quality assurance) * PPC ( production planning and control) * ERP (

enterprise resource planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a suit ...

) * A business system integrated by a common database. Devices and equipment required: * CNC, Computer numerical controlled machine tools * DNC, Direct numerical control machine tools * PLCs, Programmable logic controllers *

Robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

ics *

Computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

s *

Software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

* Controllers *

Networks Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

Interfacing Interfacing is a textile used on the unseen or "wrong" side of fabrics to make an area of a garment more rigid. Interfacings can be used to: *stiffen or add body to fabric, such as the interfacing used in shirt collars and cuffs *strengthen ...

* Monitoring equipment Technologies: * FMS, (

flexible manufacturing system A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is a manufacturing system in which there is some amount of flexibility that allows the system to react in case of changes, whether predicted or unpredicted. This flexibility is generally considered to fall ...

) * ASRS,

automated storage and retrieval system An automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS or AS/RS) consists of a variety of computer-controlled systems for automatically placing and retrieving loads from defined storage locations. Automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) are ty ...

* AGV,

automated guided vehicle An automated guided vehicle (AGV), different from an autonomous mobile robot (AMR), is a portable robot that follows along marked long lines or wires on the floor, or uses radio waves, vision cameras, magnets, or lasers for navigation. They ar ...

Robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

* Automated conveyance systems Others: *

Lean manufacturing Lean manufacturing is a methods of production, method of manufacturing goods aimed primarily at reducing times within the Operations management#Production systems, production system as well as response times from suppliers and customers. It is ...

CIMOSA

CIMOSA (Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture), is a 1990s European proposal for an open systems architecture for CIM developed by the AMICE Consortium as a series of ESPRIT projects. The goal of CIMOSA was "to help companies to manage change and integrate their facilities and operations to face world wide competition. It provides a consistent architectural framework for both

enterprise modeling Enterprise modelling is the abstract representation, description and definition of the structure, processes, information and resources of an identifiable business, government body, or other large organization. It deals with the process of underst ...

and

enterprise integration Enterprise integration is a technical field of enterprise architecture, which is focused on the study of topics such as system interconnection, electronic data interchange, product data exchange and distributed computing environments. It is a con ...

as required in CIM environments". F. Vernadat (1996). ''Enterprise Modeling and Integration''. p.40 CIMOSA provides a solution for business integration with four types of products:Richard C. Dorf, Andrew Kusiak (1994). ''Handbook of Design, Manufacturing, and Automation''. p.1014 * The CIMOSA Enterprise Modeling Framework, which provides a reference architecture for

enterprise architecture Enterprise architecture (EA) is a business function concerned with the structures and behaviours of a business, especially business roles and processes that create and use business data. The international definition according to the Federation of ...

* CIMOSA IIS, a standard for physical and application integration. * CIMOSA Systems Life Cycle, is a life cycle model for CIM development and deployment. * Inputs to standardization, basics for international standard development. CIMOSA according to Vernadat (1996), coined the term

business process A business process, business method, or business function is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks performed by people or equipment in which a specific sequence produces a service or product (that serves a particular business g ...

and introduced the process-based approach for integrated

based on a cross-boundaries approach, which opposed to traditional function or activity-based approaches. With CIMOSA also the concept of an " Open System Architecture" (OSA) for CIM was introduced, which was designed to be vendor-independent, and constructed with standardised CIM modules. Here to the OSA is "described in terms of their function, information, resource, and organizational aspects. This should be designed with structured engineering methods and made operational in a modular and evolutionary architecture for operational use".

Areas

There are multiple areas of usage: * In Industrial and Production engineering * In

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

* In

electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

(

printed circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB), also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a Lamination, laminated sandwich structure of electrical conduction, conductive and Insulator (electricity), insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes ...

(PCB) and

integrated circuit An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

design data for manufacturing)

References

External links

cam-occ, a linux CAM program using OpenCASCADE''International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing''
{{Authority control Product lifecycle management Information technology management Computer-aided engineering Digital manufacturing Management cybernetics