DATA INTEGRATION -- Tooling Up for CIM

BY MARK SMITH

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) may still be a new concept in print production, but it's a long established practice in other business sectors. The term itself actually is starting to get a little dated.

The notion of a computer, per se, being at the heart of it all seems limiting. What's really being integrated is the information generated and acted upon by various systems involved in the print production process. Embedded controllers, touchscreen displays and Web browsers are as likely to produce and consume job data as is a traditional computer.