2. Integrated Manufacturing Production System
Powers [2] defined that anintegration means combining the pieces to make the whole. To automate a
manufacturing system, one needs to know how to integrate all the pieces of the manufacturing system.
Automation without a proper integration may not significantly reduce the manufacturing cost. If the
operations which are performed by direct labor are automated, the small portion of the total product
cost is affected. The largest cost is driven by indirect activities which are shown up as the overhead
expenses such as capital depreciation, facilities expenses, support services, and engineering support.
Integrated Manufacturing Production System (IMPS) is mainly a database integration. Both the
development and manufacturing system rely on the frequent use of large amounts of information
throughout the process from the initial design of product to its production. An automated design
system and an automated manufacturing process is integrated by a well-structured common database.
Without a common database for sharing information, the data must be recreated and reinterpreted at
every stage of the process. Such information includes product design (e.g., geometry and dimensions),
bills of materials (e.g., part numbers and part lists), manufacturing routines (e.g., routing and
schedules). IMPS is designed for forming production lines as a Cell Manufacturing System (CMS)
which is integrated information including quality control, production control, inventory control and
machine maintenance [3]