Computer-aided Manufacturing: advantages and disadvantages

High school Design & Technology students often study how computer aided manufacturing (CAM) is used in industry. This article introduces various types of CNC machines and outlines common benefits and downsides of computer aided manufacturing.

CAM involves manufacturing products using computer numerical control machines (CNC machines) which are controlled by software on computers. CNC machines can carry out a wide range of functions, including cutting, drilling, shaping etc.

Types of CNC machines

Note: A traditional die cutter is not an example of CAM, as the shape is pre-set like a cookie cutter. The cutting shape is not determined or controlled by a computer.

Advantages of CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing)

  • Fast — ideal for high-volume, repetitive output
  • High accuracy and consistency
    • Can work to the precise pixel
    • Can repeat identical aspects exactly
    • Can create perfect curves and other forms that are difficult by hand
  • Machines don’t need to rest or sleep — can run 24/7 with minimal supervision, reducing labour costs
  • Reduced cost per unit – much cheaper overall if mass producing (but costly to buy machines)
  • Enables rapid prototyping and quick design changes (because linked with CAD files that can be easily adjusted)
  • Useful for dangerous jobs, protecting worker safety

Disadvantages of CAM

  • High initial cost — machines, software licences, and installation are expensive
  • Requires skilled technicians/programmers to set up and maintain
  • Too costly for one-off and small batches — setup costs and programming time makes it too expensive
  • Vulnerable to technical issues — software bugs, power failures etc
  • High energy consumption and larger carbon footprint per machine
  • Can result in job losses — displacing traditional craft skills and manufacturing jobs
  • Lacks “handmade” character — can be “cheap and nasty”

Advantages of hand-generated manufacturing methods

  • Low setup costs — no expensive machinery, software, or programming required
  • Highly flexible — easy to make one-offs, bespoke items, or last-minute changes, and can respond to each individual piece of material (i.e. variations in knots and grain in timber)
  • Suits complex organic forms with handcrafted aesthetics
  • Produces unique products with perceived value (artisan/handmade premium)
  • Skilled craftspeople
  • Lower energy consumption and smaller carbon footprint

Disadvantages of hand-generated manufacturing

  • Slow — unsuitable for high-volume output
  • Higher unit labour costs
  • Inconsistency — variation between items and between workers
  • Less accurate
  • Needs skilled workers
  • Physically demanding, with risks of repetitive strain and risk of injury
  • Harder to scale up to meet sudden increases in demand
  • Difficult to integrate with digital workflows (CAD files, automated assembly, rapid prototyping)

Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)

A2 students only

This involves using computers to integrate all functions of a manufacturing enterprise, from order entry and design through production planning, shop-floor control, quality, and shipping, so data flows between all parts of the process.

Automated production systems are the part of the CIM system that is to do with physically manufacturing the item: the CNC machines, equipment, and control systems etc that perform manufacturing operations. These could include industrial robots, automated storage and retrieval systems, automated inspection, and so on.

Computer-integrated engineering (CIE) involves using digital modelling to help with various engineering activities like design analysis and simulation. For example, a digital simulation of a railway can be used to run physics simulations to test whether there is sufficient clearance in tunnels as a train around a track at speed (this is known as simulating the dynamic kinematic envelope). A CAD model of a train can be combined with engineering analysis data — suspension behaviour, roll/tilt/sway test results, curve overthrow calculations, wind loading, etc. This allows designers to adjust and modify the design of the track or train, with engineering calculations built into the model.

…product modelling is the key to computer integrated engineering…

Robert Amor, Conceptual modelling of a concurrent engineering environment (1997)
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