Towards CIM by integrating manufacturing applications and legacy subsystems in an heterogeneous environment

Within industrial environments a multitude of different working practices, manufacturing technologies and information systems are continually appearing. Significant benefits can be achieved through integration of the information allowing key decisions to be made based on timely and accurate data. This communication presents the work carried out at an industrial site consisting on the integration of several areas and based on the use of different communication standards. The implementation satisfies several types of requirements, which include not only the functional requirements, but also the preservation of previous investments. The use of OSI (open systems interconnection) based technologies, such as those developed in the aim of CCE-CNMA (CIME Computer Environment by integrating a Communication Network for Manufacturing Applications), contributed to the success of this work.