Quality system design and development in the CIMS environment

Quality is a fundamental assurance of enterprises' survival and development. The design and development of a quality system in the environment of CIMS are a very important task in the process of CIM implementation. This paper addresses the development of a quality system and its implementation methodology in the environment of CIMS in China. The quality system is one of the subsystems in CIMS which generally includes a management information subsystem (MIS), an engineering information subsystem (EIS), a production information subsystem (PIS), a quality information subsystem (QIS), and database and network support subsystems (DNSS). This paper first introduces a model of the quality system and its detailed functions, then expounds the methodology and strategy of implementing it in a CIMS factory of China, and lastly examines the commonly encountered problems in its implementation and suggests ways to resolve these problems.