TheComputerandManufacturingThecomputerisbringingmanufactuingintotheInformationAge.Thisnewtool,longafamiliaroneinbusinessandmanagementoperation,ismovingintothefactory,anditsadventischangingmanufacturingascertainlyasthesteanenginechangeditmorethan200yearsago.Thebasicmetalworkingprocessesarenotlikelytochangefundamentally,buttheirorganizationandcontraldefinitelywill.Inonerespect,manufacturingcouldbesaidtobecomingfullcircle.Thefirstmanufacturingwasacottageindustry:thedesignerwasalsothemanufacturer,conceivingandfabricatingproductsoneatatime.Eventually,theconceptoftheinterchangeabilityofpartswasdeveloped,productedthousandaatatime.Today,althoughthedesignerandmanufacturermaynotbecomeoneagain,thefunctionsarebeingdrawncloseinthemovementtowardanintegratedmanufacturingsystem.Itiaperhapsironicthat,atatimewhenthemarketdemandsahinhdegreeofproductdiversification,themanufacturingentepriseshavetoincreaseproductivityandreducecosts,Customersaredemandinghinhqualityanddiversifiedproductsforlessmoney.Thecomputeristhekeytomeettheserequirements.Itistheonlytoolthatcanprovidethequickreflexes,theflexibilityandspeed,tomeetadiversifiedmarket.Anditistheonlytoolthatenablesthedetailedanalysisandtheaccesssibiltyofaccuratedatanecessaryfortheintegrationofthemanufacturingsystem.Itmaywellbethat,inthefuture,thecomputermaybeessentialtoacompanyssurvival.Manyoftodaysbusinesseswillfadeawaytobereplacedbymore-productivecombinations.Suchmore-productivecombinationsaresuperquality,superproductivityplants.Thegoalistodesignandoperateaplantthatwouldproduce100%satisfactorypartswithgoodproductivity.Asophisticated,competitiveworldisrequiringthatmanufacturingbegintosettleformore,tobecomeitselfsophisticated.Tomeetcompetition,forexample,acompanywillhavetomeetthesomewhatconflictingdemandsforgreaterproductdiversification,hinherquality,improvedproductivity,andlowprices.Thecompanythatseekstomeetthesedemandswillneedasophisticatedtool,onethatwillallowittorespondquicklytocustomerneedswhilegettingthemostoutofitsmanufacturingresources.Thecomputeristhattool.Becominga“superquality,superproductivity”plantrequirestheintegrationofanextremelycomplexsystem.Thiscanbeaccomplishedonlywhenallelementsofmanufacturing-design,fabricationandassembly,qualityassurance,management,materialshandling-arecomputerintegrated.Inproductdesign,forexample,interactivecomputer-aided-design(CAD)systemsallowthedrawingandanalysistaskstobeperformedinafractionofthetimepreviouslyrequiredandwithgreateraccuracy.Andprogramsforprototypetestingandevaluationfurtherspeedthedesignprocess.Inmanufacturingplanning,computer-aidedprocessplanningpermitstheselection,fromthousandsofpossiblesequencesandschedules,oftheoptinunprocess.Ontheshopfloor,distributedintelligenceintheformofmicroprocessorscontrolsmachines,runsautomatedloadingandunloadingequipment,andcollectsdataoncurrentshopconditions.Butsuchisolatedrevolutionsarenotenough,Whatisneededisatotallyautomatedsystem,linkedbycommonsoftwarefromfrontdoortoback.Essentially,computerintegrationprovideswidelyandinstantaneouslyavailable,accurateinformation,improvingcommunicationbetweendepartments,permittingtightercontrol,andgenerallyenhancingtheoverallqualityandefficiencyoftheentiresystem.Improvedcommunicationcanmean,forexample,designsthataremoreproducible.TheNCprogrammerandthetooldesignerhaveachancetoinfluencetheproductdesigner,andviceversa.Engineeringchanges,thus,canbereduced,andthosethatarerequiredcanbehandledmoreefficiently.Notonlydoesthecomputerpermitthemtobespecifiedmorequickly,butitalsoalertssubsequentusersofthedatatothefactthatachangehasbeenmade.Theinstantaneousupdatingofproduction-controldatapermitsbetterplanningandmore-effectivescheduling.Expensiveequipment,therefore,isusedmoreproductively,andpartsmovemoreefficientlythroughproduction,reducingwork-in-processcosts.Productquality,too,canbeimproved.Notonlyaremore-accuratedesignsproduced,forexample,buttheuseofdesigndatabythequality-assurancedepartmenthelpseliminateerrorsduetomisunderstandings.Peopleareenabledtodosheirjobsbetter.Byeliminatingtediouscalculationandpaperwork-nottomentiontimewastedsearchingforinformation-thecomputermotonlyallowsworkerstobemoreproductivebutalsofreesthemtodowhatonlyhumanbeingscando:thinkcreatively.Computerintegrationmayalsolurenewpeopleintomanufacturing.Peopleareattractedbecausetheywanttoworkinamodern,technologicallysophisticatedenvironment.Inmanufacturingengineering,CAD/CAMdecreasestool-design,NC-programming,andplanningtimeswhilespeedingtheresponserate,whicheilleventuallypermitin-housestafftoperformworkthatiscurrentlybeingcontractedout.計算機(jī)與制造業(yè)計算機(jī)正在將制造業(yè)帶入信息時代。計算機(jī)長期以來在商業(yè)和管理方面得到了廣泛的應(yīng)用，它正在作為一種新的工具進(jìn)入到工廠中，而且它如同蒸汽機(jī)在200多年前使制造業(yè)發(fā)生改變那樣，正在使制造業(yè)發(fā)生著變革。盡管基本的金屬切削過程不太可能發(fā)生根本性的改變，但是它們的組織形式和控制方式必將發(fā)生改變。從某一發(fā)面可以說，制造業(yè)正在完成一個循環(huán)。最初的制造業(yè)使家庭手工業(yè)：設(shè)計者本身也是制造者，產(chǎn)品的構(gòu)思與加工有同一人完成。后來形成了零件的互換性這個概念，生產(chǎn)被依照專業(yè)功能分割開來，可以成批地生產(chǎn)數(shù)以千計的相同零件。今天，盡管設(shè)計者與制造者不可能再是同一個人，但在向集成制造系統(tǒng)前進(jìn)的途中，這兩種功能已經(jīng)越來越靠近了?？赡芫哂兄S刺意味的是，在市場需求高度多樣化的產(chǎn)品的同時，制造業(yè)必須提高生產(chǎn)率和降低成本。消費者要求用較少的錢去購買高質(zhì)量和多樣化的產(chǎn)品。計算機(jī)是滿足這些要求的關(guān)鍵因素。它是能夠提供快速反應(yīng)能力、柔性和來滿足多樣化市場的唯一工具。而且，它是實現(xiàn)制造系統(tǒng)集成所需要的、能夠進(jìn)行詳細(xì)分析和利用精確數(shù)據(jù)的唯一工具。在將來計算機(jī)可能會是一個企業(yè)生存的基本條件，許多現(xiàn)今的企業(yè)將會被生產(chǎn)能力更高的企業(yè)組合所取代。這些生產(chǎn)能力更高的企業(yè)組合是一些具有非常高的質(zhì)量、非常高的生產(chǎn)率的工廠。目標(biāo)是設(shè)計和運行一個能夠以搞生產(chǎn)率的方式生產(chǎn)100%合格產(chǎn)品的工廠。一個采用先進(jìn)技術(shù)的、競爭的世界正在促使制造業(yè)開始做更多的工作，使其本身采用先進(jìn)的技術(shù)。為了適應(yīng)競爭，一個公司會滿足一些在某種程度上相互矛盾的要求，諸如產(chǎn)品多樣化、提高質(zhì)量、