10-5

Manufacturing Information Systems

Manufacturing information systems support the production/operations function, which includes all activities concerned with the planning and control of the processes that produce goods or services. The production/operations function is concerned with the management of the operational systems of all business firms. The planning and control information systems used for operations management and transaction processing support all firms that must plan, monitor, and control inventories, purchases, and the flow of goods and services. Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM): Computer-based manufacturing information systems use several major techniques to support computer-integrated manufacturing C!"#. C!" is an overall concept that stresses that the goals of computer use in factory automation must be to: Simplify - reengineer# production processes, product designs, and factory a vital foundation to automaton and integration. Automate and robots. - %roduction processes and the business functions that support them with organi$ation as computers

Integrate - &ll production and support processes using computers and telecommunications networ's. Overall goal of CIM: - !s to create fle(ible, agile, manufacturing processes that efficiently product products of the highest quality. Thus, C!" supports the concepts of: ). *le(ible manufacturing systems +. &gile manufacturing ,. Total quality management Results of CIM: - !mplementing such manufacturing concepts enables a company to quic'ly respond to and fulfill customer requirements with high-quality products and services. -ses of computers in manufacturing include: ). Computer-aided engineering C&.# +. Computer-aided design C&/# ,. Computer-aiding processing planning C&%%# 0. "aterial requirements planning "1%# 2. "anufacturing resource planning "1%# 3. Computer-aided manufacturing C&"# Computer-aided manufacturing - C&"# systems are those that automate the production process. *or e(ample, this could be accomplished by monitoring and controlling the production process in a factory through manufacturing execution systems , or by directly controlling a physical process process control#, a machine tool machine control#, or machines with some humanli'e wor' capabilities robots#. "anufacturing e(ecution systems - ".4# are performance monitoring information systems for factory floor operations. They monitor, trac', and control the five essential components involved in a production process: ). +. ,. 0. 2. "aterials .quipment %ersonnel !nstructions and specifications %roduction facilities.

".4 includes: ). +. ,. 0. 4hop floor scheduling and control systems "achine control systems 1obotics control systems %rocess control systems

4ome of the benefits of C!" are: ). !ncreased efficiency through: -wor' simplification 5 automation, - better production schedule planning - better balancing of production wor'loads in production capacity +. !mproved utili$ation of facilities, higher productivity, better quality control through: - continuous monitoring - feedbac' and control of factory operations, equipment and robots. ,. 1educed investments in production inventories 5 facilities - wor' simplification - just-in-time inventory policies - better planning and control of production - better planning and control of finished goods requirements 0. !mproved customer service - reducing out-of-stoc' situations - producing high-quality products that better meet customer requirements Collaborative Manufacturing Networks: "anufacturing processes li'e computer-aided engineering and design, production control, production scheduling, and procurement management typically involve a collaborative process. !ncreasingly, this involves using the !nternet, intranets, e(tranets, and other networ's to lin' the wor'stations of engineers and other specialists with their colleagues at other sites. These collaborative manufacturing networks may lin' employees within a company, or include representatives from a company6s suppliers or customers wherever they may be located. Process Control: Process control is the use of computers to control an ongoing physical process. %rocess control computers are used to control physical processes in such areas as: ). %etroleum refineries 2. *ood product manufacturing plants +. Cement plants 3. %ulp and paper mills ,. 4teel mills 7. .lectrical power plants 0. Chemical plants Mac ine Control: Mac ine control is the use of a computer to control the actions of a machine. This is also popularly called numerical control. The control of machine tools in factories is a typical numerical control application, though it also refers to the control of typesetting machines, weaving machines, and other industrial machinery. "achine control computers are used in such areas as: ). *actories +. !ndustrial shops ,. "achine tooling shops !obotics: 1obots are smart machines which directly control their own activities with the aid of microcomputers. !obotics is the technology of building and using machines robots# with computer intelligence and computer controlled humanli'e physical capabilities de(terity, movement, vision, and so on#. 1obots are used as 8steel-collar wor'ers9 to increase productivity and cuts costs. They are used in such areas as: ). *actories +. :a$ardous areas or wor' activities

Computer-"ided #ngineering: "anufacturing engineers use computer-aided engineering C&.# to simulate, analy$e, and evaluate the models of product designs they have developed using computer-aided design C&/# methods. ;etwor's of powerful engineering wor'stations with enhanced graphics and computational

capabilities and C&/ software help them: ). &naly$e and design products and manufacturing processes and facilities. +. 1efine an engineer6s initial drawings and provide three-dimensional computer graphics that can be rotated to display all sides of the object being designed. ,. <oom in for close-up views of a specific part and even ma'e parts of the product appear to move as they would in normal operation. 0. /esign can be converted into a finished mathematical model of the product.

Computer-aided manufacture Computer-aided manufacturing C&"# means using machines that are controlled by computers. C&" is widely used across all sectors of industry, not just electronics. &ll machines in C&" use computer numerical control C;C#: strings of numbers control the machine. The numbers provide all the commands needed: eg which direction to move, how fast, etc. These are normally stored in the machine as a program. Advantages of CAM and C C Compared to manual machines, there are several advantages to using C&": speed: C&" is faster because machining speeds are higher greater accuracy greater consistency: every finished product is the same efficiency : production can run +0 hours a day, 7 days a wee' sop!istication: C&" is able to machine difficult shapes, eg trac's on a circuit boards "isadvantages of C C mac!ines they are more e(pensive than manual machines it can ta'e a long time to write the program to operate them *or these reasons, C;C machines are normally only used when a number of identical products is needed.