W. Van Puymbroeck - Böcker

This volume contains the text of some 40 technical papers given at the 6th CIM-Europe Annual Conference, held in Lisbon. The theme of the conference was "using emerging CIM technologies for the competitiveness of European manufacturing technology." The conference sessions covered a wide range of topics including computer aided planning, technology transfer, tools for integration, robotics, impact and experience in CIM, human factors, and enabling technologies. The speakers, from industry and academia, represented leading research groups in Western Europe. Many of the papers describe the results of CIM projects funded as part of the European Communities ESPRIT programme. ESPRIT (European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technology) is an industry-oriented collaborative research and development programme, and is managed and co-funded by the European Communities. CIM-Europe is the information and awareness branch of ESPRIT CIM. The conference was jointly supported by the Commission of the European Communities and the Ministry of Industry and Energy, Portugal.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) allows the integration of current islands of automation and the exploitation of opportunities offered by the application of information technology. More than 40 key papers have been assembled from the CIM-Europe's seventh annual conference held in May 1991, Turin, Italy. The speakers represent the leading edge research in areas such as concurrent engineering, production planning and control, quality management and e.g. implementation and business experiences in applying CIM. CIM-Europe is the dissemination of ESPRIT and the conference is jointly sponsored by the CEC and organised under the patronage of the Ministero della Universita e della Ricerca Scientifica e Technologica and Citta di Torino. Engineers, academics and researchers in CIM and related fields will find the book excellent reference material for current research and experience.