Cim-Osa - Its Goals, Scope, Contents and Achievements

With the advent of Computer Technologies, and supported by major breakthroughs in electronic engineering and informatics, Computer aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) penetrated our de­sign, engineering and production activities. The result has been continuous improvement in productivity. The major drawback was a gradual deterioration of information infra-structures in our enterprises because of the fragmented solutions offered by CAD and CAM. Solutions to this drawback were sought in integrating the various enterprise functions, and this resulted in Computer Inte­grated Manufacturing (CIM). This article will highlight a new dimension in the application of CIM and Information Technology: the Open System ap­proach to CIM. The article contains a summary description of the various as­pects of CIM-OSA: Computer Integrated Manufacturing - Open System Archi­tecture, and its technical specifications. CIM-OSA is developed in an Informa­tion Technology project and carried out by AMICE, a consortium of 21 Euro­pean organizations whose work is sponsored by the European Economic Community within the ESPRIT programme.