Manufacturing Automation and IT

Automation and Information Technology (IT) is essential for the survival of a company within the current manufacturing environment. This subject takes a hierarchical view of manufacturing operations which are associated with a task, part, product and order completion. After a broad introduction to the role of automation in industry and beyond, this hierarchical approach to considering manufacturing operations is discussed. The subject discusses, in turn, the different requirements for manufacturing automation and information systems that are required to manage each of the different levels of the hierarchy culminating in an examination of automation and information systems beyond the factory as they apply to an industrial supply chain.