Fujitsu Ltd has developed a manufacturing support expert system called IMAX – said to stand for Integrated Manufacturing Advisor of X, although Advisor Xpert sounds more likely – which will be installed in its Nagano Prefecture printed circuit board plant, and will in due course also be sold commercially: IMAX has four subsystems, consisting of facilities planning support, floor layout design support, determination of production process, and production planning; it permits changes in the production plan and the rapid installation of new equipment, without necessarily requiring the assistance of skilled production process planners – a scarce resource in Japan; it is one of the first manufacturing artificial intelligence systems in Japan, and is expected to reduce the investment needed per production line by over $400,000 a year.
