Industrial Applications of Microelectronics

Besides their use in computers and consumer electronics, microelectronics have several major industrial applications in the form of computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and robots, while there is extensive incorporation of microprocessor control systems into equipment specific to each industry, for example numerically controlled machine tools (NCMTs) in engineering and electronic sewing machines in clothing. Overall, in the developed countries, investments in NCMTs are much larger than in CAD systems, or robots. In the United States, for example, of the $2.9 billion invested in industrial applications in 1981, 65 per cent was in NCMTs, 30 per cent in CAD and only 5 per cent in robots.

Technological Change: Enhancing the Benefits

Industrial Applications of Microelectronics

the Textiles, Clothing and Engineering Industries