In the area of computer-integrated manufacturing, concurrent engineering is recognized as the manufacturing philosophy for the next decade.

The 1980s have witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of computer- integrated manufacturing systems. The other major areas of development have been computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, industrial robotics, automated assembly, cellular and modular material handling, computer networking and office automation to name just a few. These new technologies are generally capital intensive and do not conform to traditional cost structures. The net result is a tremendous change in the way costs should be estimated and economic analyses performed. The majority of existing engineering...