Computer Integrated manufacturing (CIM) uses computers to control the entire production process that involves engineering, production, marketing and all the support functions of a manufacturing enterprise. In the traditional business paradigm, the company is assumed as an island, i.e., an independent and self operating entity. As a company is a part of a broader matrix of business systems composed of customers, suppliers, products and global information, it leads to integration along different axes, namely geographical and functional.Its main objective is streamlining the process of manufacturing and integrating it with all the other business functions such as financing, marketing and accounting. To eliminate the wastage, basic manufacturing functions as well as materials handling and inventory control can be simulated by computers. Nowadays there are many simulation softwares available for different applications where it is not so easy to conduct real time experiments on the real applications.
The companies which are centered and vertically integrated cannot easily adapt to the fast requirements of changes in the market. For the companies to be more efficient they need to be global and at the same time local, they should be able to operate in a coordinated as well as synchronized form and should be able to adapt to changing market conditions.
The management has to make a decision to make a product based on market opportunities, the company's strength and weakness and its strategic plan based on competitive advantage. Some of the tasks in general that a CIM has to perform includes defining the problem, developing functional, information, network organizational models and finally implementation.
Resource: fibre2fashion.com
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