Yeditepe University computer integrated manufacturing studies

The role of manufacturing enterprises in developing countries is more significant for economic prosperity than the developed countries since financial institutions are not well established. Today, the capability of producing high quality products with shorter delivery times and the ability to produce according to the diverse customer requirements have become the characteristics required for order‐qualifiers for manufacturing industries. Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) systems have become the backbone of modern manufacturing paradigm for not only being profitable but also staying in business at any corner of the world. In this respect academies play a prominent role to produce well equipped engineers being ready to take the challenge of maintaining and improving CIM systems. This paper is an effort to illustrate a prototype design and manufacturing project with necessary improvements in an educational CIM laboratory by addressing to the courses in the curriculum of Systems Engineering at Yeditepe University. Following to the insightful introduction to the laboratory facilities, the design, simulation and implementation of the prototype are presented. The results obtained are discussed from system engineering education perspective. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 17: 1–12, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae20144