ABSTRACT
Digital computers are the key to computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) as well as computer-aided design (CAD). The objectives are to use computers to automate and control all manufacturing operations to increase productivity, reduce cost, and achieve high-quality products. Computers have been used for more than 30 years in continuous and discrete manufacturing operations. Applications included (Bedworth, 1991): product testing and quality control, foundry control, numerical control equipment interface, nuclear reactor control and monitoring, utility plants start up and control, and automobile assembly lines. Computer-aided manufacturing is not just a computer software that is used to generate codes for numerical-control (NC) machines or to simulate the operation; it is a philosophy of operation that requires complete understanding of the capabilities and functions of the manufacturing process to be automated and controlled (Bedworth, 1991; Chang et al., 1991; Amirouche, 1993).
