Abstract: To quote from an article from the August 9th, 2000 edition of the Toronto Globe and Mail, Report on Business: "roductivity soared in the United States at the strongest pace since the early 1980", propelled by the computerization of the working world and massive investment by business in ever faster high-tech equipment. The billions of dollars being spent on new computer equipment and new electronic commerce systems continued to pay off in the second quarter, allowing the economic output per worker to surpass the already high expectations of financial analysts. The U.S. Department of Labour reported yesterday that productivity in the United States rose at an annualized rate of 5.3 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter....its strongest 12 month increase since the third quarter of 1983.....Much of the productivity gains in the United States are also occurring in Canada......The higher computerization and on-line presence is in turn, expected to enable Canadian businesses to keep improving the productivity of their workers and match the gains of the United States. In order to achieve these gains, we must move beyond automation at the plant floor level and look at computer systems that will take the data from the plant floor or the production line, analyze it and summarize it into reports that people can use. It must provide trend analysis so that engineers can fine tune the process. It must provide maintenance reports and work orders to allow maintenance to minimize down time. It must provide status reports on inventory and anticipate future needs. For upper management, the system must provide timely reports permitting management to make informed decisions. To summarize, you need to take a systems integration approach to automation.