Enterprisewide Integration of CIM

Dr. J. Harrington, Jr. introduces the concept of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) in 1973. He demonstrated the integration approach to an enterprise. Keeping in mind the present & future market trend for customized product and to stand in the competitive edge over long time, virtual organizations are used as significant weapon. Therefore, in order to achieve corporate goal & objectives, integration approach is required for customer in addition to suppliers. CIM, generally, may be defined as follows:

CIM is the integration of overall manufacturing enterprise through the utilized of integrated system & data communication mixed with new managerial philosophies which results in the development of personnel or organizational efficiencies.

From the definition described above, the ultimate goal of CIM is the integration of all of the enterprise operation & activities around a common data collection. In this context, society of manufacturing engineers (SME) introduces the CIM wheel that gives a clear cut picture of relationship among all of the parts of the enterprise. It illustrated three layered integration structure of an enterprise.

Outer layer constitutes of general management that includes marketing, finance, strategic planning, manufacturing management and human resource management. The middle layer consists of three process segments: manufacturing planning and control, product and process determination, and factory automation. These process segments signify all the activities in the design and manufacturing phase of a product life cycle taking the product from concept to assembly. The center of wheel shows the third layer that includes information resources management & common database.