As manufacturing has become ever more automated, the tools and practices of Information Technology (IT) are becoming integral to a successful automated enterprise. Based on the authors' very popular column in Control magazine, this book will guide the industrial engineer and manufacturing manager through the basics of IT--or Manufacturing Informatics (MI) - to successfully integrate it into the automated manufacturing enterprise. It will cover IT networks and control systems, industrial intranets, setting up relational databases, and even how the Cloud can be used for manufacturing IT needs. Also covered will be critical areas of cyber security. Highlights include:

• A quick review of the basic tools of Information Technology--hardware, software, networks--and how they work within an automated manufacturing facility.
• Guidance on how to cut manufacturing costs by designing with Manufacturing IT standards.
• Guidance on how to incorporate security strategies in a manufacturing IT system to avoid viruses, hackers and worms.
• The latest information on 'cloud computing' in an industrial setting.
• Both a bibliography and a glossary of IT acronyms.