Abstract :
This introduction outlines the background to the launching in 1986 of the ESPRIT Project on the European Computer Integrated Manufacturing Architecture (AMICE), and the challenges faced by manufacturers in today´s fiercely competitive international markets of selling a product, specified by the customer before it is manufactured, or even before its design is finalised. It introduces the open system architecture for computer integrated manufacturing (CIM-OSA) and gives the benefits of an open system approach
