Vocational and continuing training in CIM — An analysis of the FESTO/IBM modular training system

Abstract

Approaches to and concepts for computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) have lost none of their topicality or significance since such ideas arose at the beginning of the 70s, although exaggerated notions of a fully automated “unmanned” CIM factory of the future qualify today as being somewhat outdated. On the contrary, there is, if anything, more debate than ever about questions relating to CIM development strategies and CIM introduction processes, particularly in fields that initially received little attention due to a concentration on “technical” issues. Today, it is above all questions regarding new forms of company organisation and work organisation, as well as changes in the field of personnel management and training that are of great significance in connection with any step-by-step and socially acceptable process of CIM implementation. This can also be seen in studies on CIM implementation which show that approx. 50% of the component effects occur in the fields of organisation (19%) and personnel (30%), and only 23% in technology (Kohl et. al. 1988, p.11). In other words, the introduction and mplementation of CIM concepts are no longer to be seen primarily as a, thus far, unsolved technical problem of computer-integrated information and material flow, but as both innovative tasks and the opportunity to obtain a more effective and a more socially and humanly oriented development of work organisation and design. This involves changes in the educational prerequisites and training structures of the employees concerned. In general, more personal skills and greater knowledge of company and organisation are required, the aim being active integration of organisational development; in this way, company-specific experience and complex computer application possibilities in a CIM “Factory of the Future” can be used in a manner that is also open to future potential.