Computer Integrated Manufacturing: Empirical Implications for Industrial Information Systems

Abstract:

This paper describes the results of a recent field study of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) adoption strategies in U.S. manufacturing firms. The purpose of the study was to identify the extent to which CIM technologies are in use in U.S. firms, the impact of a facility’s process characteristics on the CIM development process, and the adoption policy being followed implicitly or explicitly. The survey focused on manufacturing process characteristics, the CIM development process, the CIM architecture, and perceived value and benefits. Our results indicate that CIM implementations follow a definite temporal pattern with respect to the adoption of certain information technologies. We also find evidence of labor substitution through CIM, although the direct labor jobs that are lost are partially replaced by engineering and design tasks. While most CIM users find that their CIM projects successfully meet their initial operational goals, the technology seems to be poorly integrated in most sites. More crucially, it appears that CIM does not live up to its promise: it is not being adopted as a strategic information system for competitive missions. The initiative for CIM programs is usually generated from the bottom-up by small groups of technical experts who tend to focus on localized data-processing concerns. This gradual bottom-up approach appears to severely restrain, rather than enable, plant-wide integration for critical crossfunctional business processes such as order fulfillment or the introduction of new products. The decentralized, bottom-up, development pattern of these information systems reinforces the existence of many incompatible divisional islands of automation, thereby negatively affecting the competitive capability of the firm.

Key Words and Phrases::

• adoption of information systems
• computer integrated manufacturing

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Johansen

John Johansen is Professor of Manufacturing Management at the Southern Denmark Business School. His current research interests include production planning and control, management strategy and design of production management systems, logistics, and supply chain management. Professor Johansen holds a master of science degree in production management from the University of Aalborg. He has participated in several national and international research programs.

Uday S. Karmarkar

Uday S. Karmarkar is Times Mirror Professor of Strategy and Director of the Center for Technology Management (CTM) at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. His research interests include manufacturing management, technology management, and operations strategy for manufacturing and service firms. Professor Karmarkar holds a B.Tech. degree in chemical engineering from I.I.T., Bombay, and a Ph.D. in management science from M.I.T. He previously taught at the GSB, University of Chicago, and at the Simon School, University of Rochester. Professor Karmarkar is a founding editor of the Technology and Operations Review, and coeditor of the series Perspectives in Manufacturing and Technology (Harvard Business Press). His research has appeared in Management Science, Operations Research, Econometrica, Harvard Business Review, IIE Transactions, European Jounal of O.R., Naval Research Logistics Quarterly, and Organizational Behavior and Human Performance.

Dhananjay Nanda

Dhananjay Nanda is a doctoral student at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. He received his bachelor of science in mathematics from St. Xaviers College, University of Bombay, his masters in management studies from the University of Bombay, and a master of science in management science from the University of Rochester. His main interest is in the field of production economics as it relates to modem manufacturing and service systems, the study of incentives and contracting in supply chains, and modem planning and control systems.

Abraham Seidmann

Abraham Seidmann is the Xerox Professor and Areas Coordinator of Computers and Information Systems, Management Science and Operations Management at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. Professor Seidmann is the author of numerous research articles and is a Department Editor on Interdisciplinary Management Research and Applications in Management Science. He is also an Associate or Area Editor for IIE Transactions, Production Planning and Controls, Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Production and Operations Management, and International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems. His current research and consulting activities include strategic business information systems, business process reengineering, information economics, management and analysis of financial information systems, risk management and internal controls. He has several years of experience as a senior banking officer. Professor Seidmann has consulted with many leading corporations and presented research or executive seminars in four continents.