Current situation of Advanced Manufacture Technologies in Chilean metal-mechanic sector. Future perspectives

The main purpose of this paper is to study the current state of the Chilean metal-mechanic sector and of the possible development and use of Advanced Manufacture Technologis (AMT) that would allow them to improve their competitiveness and productivity. Advanced Manufacture Technologies includes: robotics, computer aided design and computer aided manufacture (CAD/CAM), numeric control, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), integrated manufacturing systems, materials requirement planning (MRP), just in time (JIT), and total quality management (TQM).