Results of CCE-CNMA ESPRIT project on a computing environment integrating a communication network for manufacturing applications

An ESPRIT project concerned with the building of a software platform for the development and integration of distributed applications, CCE-CNMA, is now in its final stages of completion. The CCE-CNMA (CIME Computing Environment integrating a Communication Network for Manufactu...

An ESPRIT project concerned with the building of a software platform for the development and integration of distributed applications, CCE-CNMA, is now in its final stages of completion.

The CCE-CNMA (CIME Computing Environment integrating a Communication Network for Manufacturing Applications) project is supported by the Commission (DG III) within the framework of its ESPRIT programme for R&D in information technologies. It will develop a range of results that provide and support a single CIME Computing Environment (CCE). The project's aim has been to reduce the requirements for specialist skills and knowledge required for the development, integration and operation of distributed manufacturing applications, in order to provide the missing link between network infrastructure and its applications.

This will subsequently open up the Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Engineering (CIME) market by reducing implementation costs and making integrated solutions cheaper and more affordable to end users, especially SMEs.

CCE-CNMA will demonstrate to the user community the applicability of the CCE in a variety of industrial applications through demonstrations at four pilot sites across Europe. These pilot sites will define and treat the user's problems and ensure that the project produces practical, usable and marketable results.

CCE-CNMA, which is due for completion in May 1995, covers three main work areas:

- CIME Computing Environment (CCE);
- Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) usability;
- CNMA communications profile.

In the area of project results, CCE-CNMA has provided a marketable platform on which (factory) managers and (applications') developers can rely, in order to achieve effective control of their manufacturing environment as well as significantly reducing information technology integration costs. CCE is an "open", multivendor, heterogeneous and distributed CIME computing environment.

The project has always involved a range of industrial users, system integrators, vendors and research faculties. Users may express their requirements, while vendors are offered the opportunity of validating their solutions to the users' requirements in a range of industrial applications. Research faculties provide independent testing of the vendors solutions, an essential stage in the validation process.

Many products have been developed by the vendors of the project consortium, namely Bull, Silicomp, Siemens, SNI and Robotiker, and are now being fully exploited in the global computer integrated manufacturing market. The range of products includes CNMA profiles, gateways and CCE platforms.

Two publications on the project will be launched in April/May 1995. They are:

- "CCE: An integration platform for distributed manufacturing applications";
- "MMS: A communication language of manufacturing".

A series of pilot open days will be held during April and May 1995, during which participants will have the opportunity to view manufacturing applications implemented in a multivendor, heterogeneous industrial environment through the results of the CCE-CNMA project. The dates and locations of the open days are:

- Magneti Marelli
Corbetta, near Milan, Italy
21 April 1995
Contact person: Roberto Micheli, Magneti Marelli
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]

- EFACEC
S. Mamede Infesta Codex, near Porto, Portugal
28 April 1995
Contact person: Adriano Carvalho, EFACEC
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]

- Mercedes-Benz
Stuttgart, Germany
2 May 1995
Contact person: Ulli Fischer, Mercedes-Benz
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]

- Aerospatiale
Suresnes, near Paris, France 10-11 May 1995
Contact person: Gerard Guilbert, Aerospatiale
Tel. [phone]; Fax [phone]