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Enterprise Resource Planning

notes technologies, which enjoyed widespread use in many applications by the mid-1960s. It was this
source that resulted in the linkage between CAD and CAM. One of the most important trends in
CAD/CAM technologies is the ever-tighter integration between the design and manufacturing
stages of CAD/CAM-based production processes.
The development of CAD and CAM and particularly the linkage between the two overcame
traditional NC shortcomings in expense, ease of use, and speed by enabling the design and
manufacture of a part to be undertaken using the same system of encoding geometrical data. This
innovation greatly shortened the period between design and manufacture and greatly expanded
the scope of production processes for which automated machinery could be economically used.
Just as important, CAD/CAM gave the designer much more direct control over the production
process, creating the possibility of completely integrated design and manufacturing processes.

The rapid growth in the use of CAD/CAM technologies after the early 1970s was made
possible by the development of mass-produced silicon chips and the microprocessor, resulting
in more readily affordable computers. As the price of computers continued to decline and
their processing power improved, the use of CAD/CAM broadened from large firms using
large-scale mass production techniques to firms of all sizes. The scope of operations to which
CAD/CAM was applied broadened as well. In addition to parts-shaping by traditional machine
tool processes such as stamping, drilling, milling, and grinding, CAD/CAM has come to be used
by firms involved in producing consumer electronics, electronic components, molded plastics,
and a host of other products. Computers are also used to control a number of manufacturing
processes (such as chemical processing) that are not strictly defined as CAM because the control
data are not based on geometrical parameters.

Using CAD, it is possible to simulate in three dimensions the movement of a part through a
production process. This process can simulate feed rates, angles and speeds of machine tools, the
position of part-holding clamps, as well as range and other constraints limiting the operations of a
machine. The continuing development of the simulation of various manufacturing processes is one
of the key means by which CAD and CAM systems are becoming increasingly integrated. CAD/
CAM systems also facilitate communication among those involved in design, manufacturing,
and other processes. This is of particular importance when one firm contracts another to either
design or produce a component.

Task CAD is just a design process. How it beneficial in development of a new
product? Take a real life example for discussion.

4.4 material requirements planning (mrp)

Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is designed to assist manufacturers in inventory and
production management. Using MRP helps ensure that materials will be available in sufficient
quantity and at the proper time for production to occur, without incurring excess costs by having
the materials on hand too early. MRP assists in generating and (as needed) revising production
plans to meet expected demands and replenishment plans to assure the timely availability of raw
materials and all levels of product components.
MRP begins by compiling a Bill of Materials (BOM) for each end product or component of
interest. This is a listing of the components and quantities that are needed to manufacture the
end product or component. Theoretically, the compilation of BOMs continues recursively,
enumerating the subcomponents that are needed to manufacture each component, until only
raw materials appear in the generated BOMs. In practice, a manufacturer may prefer to extend
the BOM enumeration for only a specified number of levels and to assume that components and/
or raw materials beneath that level are available on demand.

74 LoveLy professionaL university