CIM Computer Integrated Manufacturing

In coming years the introduction of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) will become a matter of survival for many industrial concerns. Information technology will increasingly be recognized as a factor of production, not only influencing organizational structure, but also becoming a significant competitive factor.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) refers to the integrated information processing requirements for the technical and operational tasks of an industrial enterprise. The operational tasks can be referred to as the production planning and control system (PPC), as represented in the left fork of the Y in Fig. A.01. The more technical activities are characterized by the various CAX-concepts in the right fork of the Y. The PPC system is determined by order handling, whereas the CA-components support product description and the production resources. At the same time these information systems provide data for the associated financial and cost accounting systems.

The CIM components represented in the Y-diagram of Fig. A.01 are:

Establishing uniform process chains with their accompanying data flows and short term control possibilities gives rise to great rationalization potential. This explains the substantial user-acceptance of CIM principles. What can a user do, however, when CIM is widely discussed, but not (yet) available in the form of complete CIM systems?

Having developed a procedural approach to introducing CIM, several CIM implementations will be presented.

German Ministry for Research and Technology founded a program called “Production Technology 1988 - 1992” to promote the implementation of CIM solutions in Germany. In the scope of this program, industrial enterprises - mainly those from mechanical engineering, plant engineering and construction - could obtain financial support for creating and implementing CIM concepts. A further measure, which was financed by this program, is the so-called “wide efficacious diffusion via CIM-Technology-Transfer”. This part of the promotion program supported the building-up of CIM-Technology-TransferCenters (CIM-TTC) at 21 university departments in Germany (see Fig. E.I.01). CIM-TTC Saarbrücken being part of Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik (IWi) at the University of Saarland is affiliated to the only business administration institute in the project. All the other CIM-TT partners are affiliated to institutes of the engineering science area. The cooperation among the CIM-TTCs was handled by BMFT’s department “production techniques”, which is located at Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK). Five of the CIM-TTCs had been installed in the new Eastern German states after the unification in 1990. Their sponsorship was prolonged until 1995, while the program ended for the 16 CIM-TTCs in the West But most of those CIM-TTCs exist further, e.g. CIM-TTC Saarbrücken pays its way by seminars and research projects which are hold in cooperation with Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik.