Information Management and CAD/CAM — The New Challenge

Abstract

The equipment offered by the relevant manufacturers and the installed pilot projects of the various users indicate that the current technical change caused by microelectronics will be characterized by a new quality: if individual functions have so far been accessible to flexible mechanization in individual solutions, then a process of the integration of functions, technologies and equipment is at present at its beginning in production and administration. For example, test systems are being used in the administrative office, design systems in the engineering office, and computer-controlled machine tools and industrial robots on the shop floor. However, these have mostly been island solutions up to now, making use of separate information and communication means for the different activities. It is only the interlinking, i.e. the integration of the different systems, which supplies the possibility for increasing the efficiency.