Changing paradigms in manufacturing automation

This paper deals with some important aspects and their changes in the field of manufacturing automation in the last 20-30 years. The main issue of this study is the application of different computer assisted techniques, tools and means for the design, production, test, etc. of engineering products and of the manufacturing and assembly facilities to produce the products. We deal with the following main topics: CAD/CAM/CAx, CIM, concurrent engineering, application of artificial intelligence means, open systems, integration and standard communication, and their relationships. Systems developed in our laboratory will be discussed as demonstrations of certain topics, and finally an application example for intelligent control is given, where some of the above paradigms are combined