Information management - the key for efficient manufacturing.

Regarding the main objective of CIM, a shift of emphasis from hard to soft automation can be observed. Hardware components have reached a high level of development. The integration of software components remains an important target. Efforts for standardization are underway. Modelling and structuring of products, processes and manufacturing resources will lead to an integrated approach to CIM. This database will be available for different tasks in order to maximize the company's overall performance. The paper reflects on - Computer integration and success - two basic competitive strategies - elements of computer integrated manufacturing - European acitivities towards standardization - human factors - organizational factors and gives some recommendations.