(CIM) computer integrated manufacturing is a recent technology being tried in advance computer and it comprises a combination of software and hardware for product design, product planning, product control, product equipment and product process.

In this CIM technology CAD/CAM play an effective role. CAD/CAM system is ideally suited for designing and manufacturing mechanical components of free from complex 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes.

CAD/CAM technology plays an important role in functioning of robots. In CAD/CAM system the robot work data is prepared from CAD data from the first designing process. This system is a kind of off-line teaching system. Since an actual robot is not used to input data for path creation, the coordinate system data must be corrected and simulations necessary before loading a created data.

Robots are inevitable for application in the field where the work is extremely difficult or impossible for human being to perform.

Some of such examples are: Work requiring speed, precision or function exceeding human ability, or that which requires entering a sterile environment, vacuum, outer space, or around a nuclear reactor, places that a man cannot enter easily or at all.

Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture is the way things are made these days. Without this technology we wouldn’t have the range and quality of products available or, at least, they wouldn’t be available at a price most of us can afford.

Hand-building and manual techniques still very much have their place and Design Education needs to treasure and foster these skills so that future generations will have the ‘hands-on’ skills to understand the man-made world and provide the next generation of engineers, designers and technicians.

All of these professionals will be using CAD/CAM techniques or CAD/CAM products in their work, alongside practical hands-on skill. Design and Technology education has to reflect modern practice so it is crucial that students have the opportunity to use real CAD/CAM tools in their designing and Making.

USES

Computer-aided design is one of the many tools used by engineers and designers and is used in many ways depending on the profession of the user and the type of software in question.

CAD is one part of the whole Digital Product Development (DPD) act ivity within the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) processes, and as such is used together with other tools, which are either integrated modules or stand-alone products, such as:

• Computer-aided engineering (CAE) and Finite element analysis (FEA)
• Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) including instructions to Computer Numerical
• Control (CNC) machines
• Photo realistic rendering
• Document management and revision control using Product Data Management (PDM).

CAD is also used for the accurate creation of photo simulations that are often required in the preparation of Environmental Impact Reports, in which computer-aided designs of intended buildings are superimposed into photographs of existing environments to represent what that locale will be like were the proposed facilities allowed to be built. Potential blockage of view corridors and shadow studies are also frequently analyzed through the use of CAD.

CAD has been proven to be useful to engineers as well. Using four properties which are history, features, parameterization, and high level constraints. The construction history can be used to look back into the model's personal features and work on the single area rather than the whole model. Parameters and constraints can be used to determine the size, shape, and other properties of the different modeling elements.

The features in the CAD system can be used for the variety of tools for measurement such as tensile strength, yield strength, electrical or electro-magnetic properties. Also its stress, strain, timing or how the element gets affected in certain temperatures, etc.