Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Computer-aided Manufacturing

In general, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) refers to "the use of computer systems to plan, manage, and control the operations of a manufacturing plant through either direct or indirect computer interface with the plant's production resources."1 Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) often refers to software that takes the geometric design authored with CAD software as input and outputs manufacturing instructions that are downloaded to automated equipment such as a computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine tool. Is also referred to as computer-assisted manufacturing.