Design and implementation of computer integrated manufacturing in small and medium-sized enterprises: A case study

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the implementation of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). Since many manufacturing organizations compete in international markets, a company strategy should be justified before making any major advanced technology-related investment decisions. The bottleneck for realizing CIM systems in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is often the lack of in-house knowledge about how to design a CIM system and how to implement the existing technological components to improve the manufacturing performance. It is necessary to develop a framework for the design and implementation of CIM in SMEs. The literature on the design and implementation of CIM is reviewed, a framework for the design and implementation of CIM in SMEs is developed, and a case study is conducted which involves collecting and analyzing data from a small company, Company A, to develop a practical framework for the implementation of CIM in SMEs.