Forging a Partnership to Achieve Competitive Advantage: The CIM Challenge

Abstract

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) could well become the most important application of information technology for achieving competitive advantage. Recent advances in manufacturing and information technologies present promising new strategic alternatives for designing business systems. CIM enables firms to respond quickly to market changes, achieve economies of scope, and manage the complexity of a multi-product environment. Attaining the strategic benefits of CIM requires decision support to integrate marketing with design, design with manufacturing, and manufacturing with strategic positioning. This emerging technology requires a partnership of executives in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and MIS who share a common vision of how CIM makes possible new approaches to designing business systems.