《大规模生产》word版.doc

New word:Since the industrial revolution, U.S industry has been undergoing a process of continuous development. During the nineteenth century, new machines expanded the productivity of workers; and with the beginning of the twentieth century, new automation technology of mass production through transfer and assembly lines emerged. Next factory manufacturing grew to include more and more new sectors of work and finally became a complex of separated departments, each dedicated to a certain task. Although automation and computerization of those isolated islands have been increasing steadily since the early 1950s, until now, barriers of understanding and working methods have also been growing. Although the number of the blue-collar workers on the shop floor continually decreased, a large number of white-collar personnel, ranging from managers to clerks, were needed to do reams of paperwork and to transfer information among the different departments in order to tie them together. It is, therefore, obvious that automating isolated tasks in the process of product development, while relatively cost-effective, cannot alone achieve either significant savings in lead time or gains in productivity. It is also clear that those required goals can be accomplished only by automating the flow of information in the business organization and by optimizing the process of product development as a whole through adopting the systems approach. In fact, this latter solution involves complete implementation of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). It indicates, on the one hand, that the different departments in a corporation can be electronically channeled so that each department would have an immediate access to all other departments as well as to the mainframe data store. This enables efficient control of the large corporation and, consequently, optimization of the whole system. On the other hand, CIM refers to the situation where many companies are, today, with isolated automated islands and white-collar workers doing paperwork to pass information from one department to another. Now let us look together at some definition of CIM.mass production: 大规模生产transfer : 转移,生产流水线assembly line n.(工厂产品的)装配线manufacturing:制造,制造业的shop floor n.车间；工场cost effective n.成本效果合算lead time: 加工准备时间,超前时期订货至交货的时间,研制周期automate v.tr.To convert to automatic operation:automate a factory.To control or operate by automation.Channel: 沟通信息媒介An interesting definition of CIM was given by Eugene Merchant(the father of metal-cutting theory) as “a closed-loop feedback system whose prime inputs are product requirements and product concepts and whose prime outputs are finished products. It comprises a combination of software and hardware, product design, production planning, production control, production equipment, and production processes.” Another definition was given by Richard G.Abraham in his paper presented at AUTOFACT III Conference, which was adopted and published by CASA(The Computer and Automated Systems Association of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers). It was stated as follows: “A truly integrated CAD/CAM or CIM system provides computer assistance to all business functions from marketing to product shipment. It embraces what historically have been classified as business systems applications, including order entry, bill of material processing, inventory control, and material requirements planning; design automation, including drafting, design, and simulation; manufacturing planning, including process planning, routing and rating, tool design and parts programming; and shop floor applications such as numerical control, assembly automation, testing, and process automation.” A succinct definition of the business planning and execution functions included in a CIM system was also provided. It included economic simulations, long-term business forecasting, customer order servicing and finished-goods inventory management. It is of importance to note that both definitions are not limited only to engineering activities but are extended to include management and business activities as well.closed-loop feedback:闭环反馈AUTOFACT : SME( =Society of Manufacturing Engineers制造工程师学会美 ) 组织、以CIM为主题的年会“工厂自动化（AUTOFACT）CASA: Computer and Automated System Association 计算机与自动化系统协会美CAD. 计算机辅助设计 (computer aided design)CAM:Computer-aided Manufacturing.计算机辅助制造CIM: 计算机集成制造Succinct:Based on the preceding discussion, it appears that the roles(as well as the quality) of engineers involved in design, manufacturing, and production planning will change. As a result of integration, product design will not be dictated only by the function but will also be affected by manufacturing considerations. It is, therefore, anticipated that the boundaries now existing between the design and the manufacturing phases will disappear, or at least fade. Consequently, the engineers who will carry out the process of product design and development must have a very good background about the details of the manufacturing know-how. Similarly, an increase in the skill levels of other personnel is also required. For instance, workers will also be responsible for maintenance and initial setup work, instead of the simple, repetitious, and boring tasks involved in transfer or assembly lines. Managers would also have more technical backgrounds, as a result of integration, in order to be able to make the appropriate decisions. In all cases, it is obvious that knowledge of computer systems is an absolute necessity. We can now conclude that the proper implementation of CIM must be based not only on the mechanization, optimization, and computerization of various processes, but also on achieving those in synchronization with the automation of information flow in order to deal with real-time planning and control of the whole business organization, from the entry of an order to shipment of the finished product. Some fundamental methodological tools used for integrating design, manufacturing, and production control are group technology(GT), computer-aided process planning (CAPP), and material-requirement plan