A systems theoretic view of computer integrated manufacturing

A global and specific characteristics of a computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) architecture have far-reaching consequences for the general health of the production organization that applies the architecture. A theory is therefore needed to design ‘good’ CIM architectures. The authors argue that good CIM architectures specify unambiguously, at a high level of abstraction, and in generic terms a production organization as a configuration of components, while allowing the understanding of how the components affect the performance of the production organization as a whole. They demonstrate a theory for designing CIM architectures for a production organization such that, in addition to realizing production targets, it can honour requests to change its product portfolio, production capacity, or production costs.