Benefits of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
What Does Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)
Mean?
Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) refers to the
use of computer-controlled machinery and automation systems in manufacturing
products. CIM combines various technologies like computer-aided design (CAD)
and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) to provide an error-free manufacturing
process that reduces manual labour and automates repetitive tasks. The CIM
approach increases the speed of the manufacturing process and uses real-time
sensors and closed-loop control processes to automate the manufacturing process.
It is widely used in the automotive, aviation, space and ship-building
industries.
CIM is a manufacturing approach that provides complete automation of a manufacturing facility. All the operations are
controlled by computers and have common storage and distribution. The various
processes involved in a CIM are listed as follows:
● Computer-aided design
● Prototype manufacture
● Determining the efficient method for manufacturing by calculating
the costs and considering the production methods, volume of products, storage
and distribution
● Ordering of the necessary materials needed for the manufacturing
process
● Computer-aided manufacturing of the products with the help of
computer numerical controllers
● Quality controls at each phase of the development.
● Product assembly with the help of robots
● Quality check and automated storage
● Automatic distribution of products from the storage areas to
awaiting lorries/trucks
●
Automatic updating of
logs, financial data and bills in the computer system
The CIM approach
has found a wide range of applications in industrial and production
engineering, mechanical engineering and electronic design automation. CIM
increases manufacturing productivity and lowers the total cost of
manufacturing. It also offers great flexibility, quality and responsiveness.
Benefits of CIM
1. CIM improves
the short-run responsiveness consisting of :
● Engineering changes
● Processing changes
● Machine downtime or
unavailability
● Operator unavailability
● Cutting tool failure
●
Late material delivery
2. CIM improves
long-run accommodations through quicker and easier assimilation of :
● Changing product volumes
● New product additions and
introductions
●
Different part mixes
3. CIM increase
machine utilization by :
● Eliminating or reducing
machine setup
● Utilizing automated features
to replace manual intervention to the extent possible
●
Providing quick transfer devices to keep the machines in
the cutting cycle.
4. CIM improves
quality :
● Faster reactions to defects: quality checks can be conducted live
using sensors faster than the line speed. These range from check weighers
validating unit quantities, to temperature sensors, x-rays, chemical sample
analysis and vision systems.
● More accuracy: a system that performs quality checks increases the
chances of detecting and removing defective products from the line. For
example, in a packaging centre, high-speed cameras take photos of jars to
ensure they meet the specifications for size and colour, or that label
information, such as expiry dates, are correct.
●
Improvements to process to
reduce defects:
technologies that measure output and production data can pinpoint where defects
occur in production and inform change programs.
5. Reducing
inventory and work-in-progress: This can be accomplished through the
utilization of an MRP II or ERP system. Careful and reliable material
purchasing planning and production planning can to a great extent eliminate
high inventory and work-in-progress levels, hence reducing capital overstock and
even waste through long-term material storage.
6. Improving production efficiency:
Through the integration of a production system, planning system, and material
supply system, the production processes can be operated in a well-organized
way and hence production can be carried out with the shortest possible waiting
times and machine utilization greatly increased. Through the integration of
CAD, CAPP, and CAM systems, the setup time for NC machines can be reduced
significantly. The improvement of production efficiency will bring economic
returns from investment in the CIM system.
7. Improving product design ability:
Through the integration of CAD, CAPP, and CAM systems, by using the current
engineering method, the product design ability of the company can be
significantly improved. New and improved products can be designed and developed
in a shorter time, and the company can win the market competition with these
products.
8. Standardizing processes: The business processes, design
processes, and production processes can be standardized. This can help to
streamline the company’s processes and reduce errors caused by uncontrolled and
random operations.
9. Optimizing processes: The business processes, design
processes, and production processes can be optimized. This can help to locate
bottlenecks in the processes and cost-intensive activities and thus to provide
methods to reduce the cost.
10. Improving market response-ability: The traditional pyramid
organization structure will be changed to a flat structure that can greatly
improve the speed of response to market change and user requirements.
Some
quantifiable benefits achieved by applying CIM are :
● Engineering design costs can
be reduced by 15 to 30 %.
● The overall lead times can be
reduced by 30 to 60 %.
● The product quality can be
increased dramatically, as measured by the yield of an acceptable product,
offering 2 to 5 times the previous level.
● Productivity of the
manufacturing operations can be increased by 40 to 70 %.
● Operating time-related
productivity can be increased by 2 to 3 times.
● The productivity of engineers
and engineering managers can be increased by 5 to 35 times, measured in terms
of extent and depth of analysis in the same or less time.
●
Work in the process can be reduced by 30 to 60 %.
References
1.
1.https://www.armagard.com/ip54/computer-integrated-manufacturing-explained-clearly.html
2.
https://www.ques10.com/p/18890/benefits-of-cim/
4.
http://www.engineering-bachelors-degree.com/business-management/uncategorized/computer-integrated-manufacturingbenefits-of-cims/
very good information
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