AMICE Consortium

CIMOSA, standing for "Computer Integrated Manufacturing Open System Architecture", is an enterprise modeling framework, which aims to support the enterprise integration of machines, computers and people. The framework is based on the system life cycle concept, and offers a modelling language, methodology and supporting technology to support these goals.

It was developed in the 1990s by the AMICE Consortium, in an EU project. A non-profit organization CIMOSA Association was later established to keep ownership of the CIMOSA specification, to promote it and to support its further evolution.

The original aim of CIMOSA (1992) was "to elaborate an open system architecture for CIM and to define a set of concepts and rules to facilitate the building of future CIM systems". One of the main ideas of CIMOSA is the categorization of manufacturing operations in:

The development of CIMOSA has ultimately resulted in two key items:

The framework furthermore offers an "event-driven, process-based modeling approach with the goal to cover essential enterprise aspects in one integrated model. The main aspects are the functional, behavioral, resource, information and organizational aspect".

CIMOSA can be applied in process simulation and analysis. Standardized CIMOSA models "can also be used on line in the manufacturing enterprise for scheduling, dispatching, monitoring and providing process information". One of the standards based on CIMOSA is the Generalised Enterprise Reference Architecture and Methodology (GERAM).

The main focus of CIMOSA has been to construct:

A close liaison with European and international standardization organisations was established to stimulate the standardization process for enterprise integration.

CIMOSA aims at integrating enterprise operations by means of efficient information exchange within the enterprise. CIMOSA models enterprises using four perspectives:

AMICE Consortium was a European organization of major companies concerned with computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM). It was initiated in 1985 and dissolved in 1995, and eventually included users, vendors, consulting companies, and academia. Among the participating companies were IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Siemens, Fiat, and Daimler-Benz.

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