11. Planning and Analysis

11.1 Factors to Consider

• There are a number of factors in a company which must be considered when evaluating the need for CAD/CAM/CAE/CIM/etc systems. Some of these are listed below,

external

company crisis
markets Niche/Global/Home/ etc.
competition
customer requirements

internal

corporate objectives, mission and culture

technological

available technology
research & development

success factors

the role of management
worker security
corporate organization
unions
middle management
worker motivation
training / worker abilities
cash
purchasing
design engineering
etc.

• Current popular planning strategies include,

Cost management

direct costing

effective capital investments

space utilization

Cycle time reduction

continuous flow manufacturing and vendor supply

pull manufacturing

business and process re-engineering

Market driven quality

defining market needs

first to market

agile manufacturing

6 sigma quality

Automation

process

warehouse

information

CIM

simplifying and automated processes

increased information access

• We can draw a chart that illustrates the issues that might be encountered,