10.8 Production and materials technology
New manufacturing technologies introduced over the last two or three decades include robots, numerically-controlled machining tools and computer software for product design, engineering analysis and control of manufacturing machinery. This technology is called computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM): it is also called flexible manufacturing systems. CIM coordinates robots, machines, product design and engineering analysis through a single computer.
CIM is able to produce products of different sizes, types and customer requirements on the one assembly line without slowing production. It does this through three sub-components:
- computer-aided design (CAD) . Computers are used to assist in the drafting, design, and engineering of new parts. Hundreds of design options can be explored, as can scaled-up or scaled-down versions of the original.
- computer-aided manufacturing ( CAM ). Computer-controlled machines in materials handling, fabrication, production and assembly greatly increase the speed at which products can be manufactured. CAM also permits a production line to shift rapidly from producing one product to any variety of other products by changing the instruction tapes or software in the computer.
- administrative automation . The computerised accounting, inventory control, billing and shop floor tracking systems allow managers to monitor and control the manufacturing process. The JIT system, as discussed in the reading from your textbook, is part of this total system. An extension of this is the tracking of products from the factory to the retailer by using smart tags as explained in Figure 10.1.
Figure 10.3 Product tracking
Source: Czinkota et al. 2005, p. 539.
For JIT to be successful, manufacturers need the cooperation of their suppliers. JIT is a two-way street and suppliers need the cooperation of manufacturers if they are not be become a de facto inventory system for the manufacturer. That is probably a useful point to introduce the next activity.
Activity 10.3
What problems do you see in the JIT system:
- for the manufacturer?
- for suppliers?
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