An overview of advanced manufacturing technology

In recent years there has been a veritable avalanche of information about AMT - advanced manufacturing technology - and, latterly, CIM - computer-integrated manufacturing. But what do these terms mean, and have the associated technologies been entirely successful? The opening section of this paper seeks to answer the first question by describing some of the radical changes currently occurring in manufacturing industry and suggesting possible definitions for both 'AMT' and 'CIM'. It will be shown that there is a steady trend in manufacturing towards 'integration' (of both functions and information) and that integration has progressed furthest in the area of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). The second question is addressed by an analysis of the results of various surveys into the diffusion of FMS. This analysis indicates particular problems of design and implementation. The authors believe that many of these problems can be attributed to a 'technology-centred' approach to the design of man-machine systems and are common to other elements of AMT/CIM. The paper concludes with a brief description of research being carried out to develop an alternative 'human-centred' approach to the design and implementation of FMS and ultimately CIM. This approach seeks to integrate the design of computer-aided technology and work, in order to make optimal use of both technical and human resources in manufacturing systems.