Page 87 - Intelligent Communication Systems

70 INTELLIGENT COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Personnel of the design, manufacturing, maintenance, and sales departments can
access the document in standard form, use it for given purposes, write information
in the document, and refer it to other personnel.

7.8.2 Example of CALS
(1) Standard for documents: Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)
is the standard for the document. Tags are put on the beginning and end of the doc-
ument, the chapter, and the section. This allows easy retrieval of the document by
chapter or section.
(2) Standard for figures: Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) is the style
standard for figures and illustrations.
(3) Standard for CAD: Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) is the
standard for CAD (computer-aided design).

7.8.3 Details of CALS
Because of information sharing following the introduction of CALS, the procure-
ment of components and products has been expanding on a global scale. In recent
years, companies have moved their factories and their research and development
institutes to various parts of the world. Product distribution and inventory man-
agement have to be conducted throughout the world. To do so efficiently and
effectively, companies must introduce CALS. Information shared via CALS con-
cerning the manufacturing process or procurement can easily be processed. This
information helps companies devise strategies and make plans for the development
of new products.

7.8.4 Features of CALS

Sharing information in digital form is one of the important features in CALS. The
major objective of CALS is to increase the efficiency of the manufacturing process.
Therefore, CALS can be applied to a variety of applications, such as concurrent
engineering and virtual corporation. Sometimes it is said that CALS is electronic
data interchange (EDI). But EDI is actually the specification of documents used
in commercial transaction, and is only a component of CALS.

7.8.5 Components of CALS
There are three components of CALS.

(1) Standards for information interchange: Items for standardization are the
data formats, such as documents, figures, product models, voice and motion pictures,