Laboratory Development for Computer Integrated Manufacturing

计算机集成制造（CIM）有望在振兴衰落的美国制造业方面发挥重要作用。未来的规模化工厂将被开发出来，以更好地为工程师准备将各种制造活动与计算机结合起来。十个CAD/CAM工作站和一个局域网是完成现有CAM实验室集成所必需的硬件，该实验室已经包括缩放的车削中心、加工中心、机器人和PC单元控制器。一旦这些额外的设备到位，现有的内部软件应用程序将支持制造数据库、CAD、组技术代码生成以及离线机器人和NC编程。最终，该系统还将支持图形机器和单元模拟、过程监测和控制、经济分析、库存管理、工具和夹具设计、单元加载和自动检查。扩展的CIM实验室将为学生提供洞察各种制造活动如何在CIM系统框架中相互作用的机会，并提供在安全但现实的环境中将组件从概念到计划到制造的机会。

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.