Computer-aided manufacturing (in Latin America) or computer-aided manufacturing (in Spain), also known by the English acronym CAM (computer-aided manufacturing), also involves the use of different programs that include scheduling, administration and quality control.

Due to its advantages, computer-aided design and manufacturing are often combined in CAD/CAM systems. This combination allows the transfer of information from the design stage to the manufacturing stage of a product, without the need to manually recapture the geometric data of the part. The database developed during CAD is processed by CAM to obtain the data and instructions necessary to operate and control production machinery, material handling equipment, and automated testing and inspection to establish product quality.

An important CAD/CAM function in machining operations is the ability to describe the tool path for various operations, such as numerically controlled turning, milling and drilling. The instructions or programs are computer generated, and can be modified by the programmer to optimize the tool path. The engineer or technician can then visually show and check the path for possible collisions with vises, supports or other objects.

At any time it is possible to modify the tool path to take into account other shapes of parts to be machined. Also, CAD/CAM systems are capable of coding and classifying parts that have similar shapes into groups, using alphanumeric coding.

Some examples of CAM are: programmed numerical control milling, making holes in circuits automatically by a robot, and automatic soldering of SMD components in an assembly plant.

The emergence of CAD/CAM has had a great impact on manufacturing by standardizing product development and reducing efforts in design, testing and working with prototypes. This has made it possible to significantly reduce costs and improve productivity. For example, the twin-engine Boeing 777 airliner was designed entirely in computer with 2,000 workstations connected to eight computers. This aircraft is built directly with the developed CAD/CAM programs (and the expanded CATIA system), and no prototypes or simulations were built, as were required in previous models. The cost of this development was on the order of six billion dollars.

Some of the characteristic applications of computer-aided manufacturing are the following:.

Examples of this type of software are: CAMWorks"), CATIA, Fikus Visualcam, GibbsCAM"), SprutCAM, Unigraphics"), WorkNC, Esprit and many more.