Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) promises to be instrumental in revitalizing declining U.S. manufacturing industries. A scaled factory of the future will be developed to better prepare the engineer to integrate various manufacturing activities with computers. Ten CAD/CAM workstations and one local-area network are the hardware necessary to complete the integration of the existing CAM lab, which already includes scaled turning centers, machining centers, robots, and a PC cell controller. Once this additional equipment is in place, existing in-house software application programs will support a manufacturing database, CAD, group technology code generation, and off-line robot and NC programming. Ultimately, the system will also support graphical machine and cell simulation, process monitoring and control, economic analysis, inventory management, tool and fixture design, cell loading, and automated inspection. The scaled CIM lab will provide the student with insights into how various manufacturing activities interact in a CIM system framework, and afford the opportunity to take a component from concept to plan to manufacture, in a safe but realistic environment.
