CS507

CS507 - Solution of Assignment # 2
Impact on Economy
This technology contributes to several national economic prosperity goals. Its major contribution is to job creation and economic growth because it is an essential part of the new manufacturing infrastructure centered on computer- controlled manufacturing. For example, by contributing to producibility and lower costs of "clean cars," CIM support software plays an important role in making clean cars more economically viable and giving U.S. industry advantage in the new generation of vehicles for world markets. It provides one of the tools which can be used to excel at the products and processes identified by the NEMI as essential for future competitiveness of U.S. electronics industry in world markets. It provides the capabilities to work with new materials tailored specifically to the needs of automotive, electronics, construction and aircraft industries, and is essential to the design and economic production of sophisticated new automobiles and aircraft. Finally, CIM support software contributes to the harnessing of information technology because many of the physical components of the information infrastructure, e.g., integrated circuits, can be manufactured more productively with reliance on CIM.
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CIM BENEFITS
According to the U.S. National Research Council, CIM improves production productivity by 40 to 70 percent, as well as enhances engineering productivity and quality. CIM can also decrease design costs by 15 to 30 percent, reduce overall lead time by 20 to 60 percent, and cut work-in-process inventory by 30 to 60 percent. Managers who use CIM believe that there is a direct relationship between the efficiency of information management and the efficiency and the overall effectiveness of the manufacturing enterprise. Thacker's view is that many CIM programs focus attention on the efficiency of information management and the problems that come with it instead of developing new and more sophisticated manufacturing machines, material transformation processes, manufacturing management processes, and production facilities. Computer-integrated manufacturing can be applied to nonmanufacturing organizations by changing the manufacturing focus toward a service orientation. CIM and Job Definition Format (JDF) are becoming increasingly beneficial to printing companies to streamline their production process