ALTHOUGH THE NEED FOR CIM IS WIDELY RECOGNIZED, EXISTING INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS ARE LIMITED IN SCOPE SO THAT POTENTIAL BENEFITS CAN ONLY BE PARTIALLY REALIZED. FURTHERMORE, THE DEPLOYMENT OF CIM SOLUTIONS IS SELDOM WITHIN THE REACH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES. THIS PAPER DESCRIBES IMPORTANT FEATURES OF EMERGING CIM MODELLING AND IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS WHICH WILL ENABLE A STEP CHANGE IN PRACTICE WHEN DESIGNING AND INSTALLING INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING SOLUTIONS. IN ADDITION, CASE STUDY EXAMPLES ARE REPORTED ON THE USE OF THE TOOLS, WHERE BOTH A UNIVERSITY PROOF OF CONCEPT SCHEME AND AN INDUSTRIAL SOLUTION ARE BRIEFLY DESCRIBED.