Manufacturing Databases and Computer Integrated Systems

Manufacturing Databases and Computer Integrated Systems is the first book to probe the problems and solutions presented by the diversity of databases within the manufacturing industry. The author examines these heterogeneous databases at both the macro (national/international) level and micro (intracompany and intercompany) level. This book is the result of an extensive international research project that involved 87 leading organizations. Manufacturing Databases and Computer Integrated Systems presents the compelling argument for using computers as database integrators, a concept beyond the obvious applications of number crunching and data storage. The book addresses several different areas of manufacturing technology, including product policies in manufacturing, fuzzy controls in plant operations, concurrent engineering, practical applications for expert systems, organizational prerequisites in manufacturing, heterogenous database environments, the benefits of object-oriented databases, and the requirements for virtual database integration. Manufacturing Databases and Computer Integrated Systems also presents case studies, including the TRW solution applied in Operation Desert Storm, Project CRONUS by BBN, the Intelligent Database Assistant (IDA) by GTE, General Motor's DATAPLEX solution, and Project Carnot by the Microelectronics and Computer Development Corporation (MCC). The book is a "must" for computer and database technologists, engineers, and senior management at most companies worldwide.