Human factors and sociotechnical systems in computer integrated manufacturing

This paper describes Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), and explores its sociotechnical problems and achievements. US companies have not been entirely successful in complete integration of CIM. The evolution of CIM in the US has been accomplished in incremental steps. Companies were viewing CIM as a panacea, and were overlooking the aspects of the social subsystem. US companies need to provide innovative automation strategies, and restructure if they are to succeed in CIM. Companies should evaluate their social subsystem and internal processes to identify areas for production improvement prior to spending large amounts of capital for CIM implementation.<>