In recent years, the requirements for technical components have steadily been increasing. This development is intensified by the desire for products with a lower weight, smaller size, and extended functionality, but also with a higher resistance against specific stresses. Mono-material components, which are produced by established processes, feature limited properties according to their respective material characteristics. Thus, a significant increase in production quality and efficiency can only be reached by combining different materials in a hybrid metal component. In this way, components with tailored properties can be manufactured that meet the locally varying requirements. Through the local use of different materials within a component, for example, the weight or the use of expensive alloying elements can be reduced. The aim of this Special Issue is to cover the recent progress and new developments regarding all aspects of hybrid bulk metal components. This includes fundamental questions regarding the joining, forming, finishing, simulation, and testing of hybrid metal parts.

These ESAFORM 2024 conference proceedings cover a wide range of topics: Additive manufacturing; Composites forming processes; Extrusion and drawing; Forging and rolling; Formability of metallic materials; Friction and wear in metal forming; Incremental and sheet metal forming; Innovative joining by forming technologies; Optimization and inverse analysis in forming; Machining, Cutting and severe plastic deformation processes; Material behavior modelling; New and advanced numerical strategies for material forming; Non-conventional processes; Polymer processing and thermomechanical properties; Sustainability on material forming. Keywords: WAAM Technology, Fused deposition Modeling (FDM), Fiber Composite Printers, Ultrasonic Powder Atomization, Finite Element Modeling (FEM), Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF), Rapid Prototyping in Additive Manufacturing, Directed Energy Deposition (DED), GTAW Droplet Deposition, Deep Learning, Thermoplastic Pultrusion, Textile Reinforcements, Thermoforming Simulation, New Sustainable Materials, Non-Crimp Fabrics, CFRP Scraps, PEEK Composites, Thermoplastic Sheets, Flax/PP Composites.

These proceedings present papers on Additive Manufacturing, Composites Forming Processes, Extrusion and Drawing, Forging and Rolling, Formability of Metallic Materials, Friction and Wear in Metal Forming, Incremental and Sheet Metal Forming, Innovative Joining by Forming Technologies, Lionel Fourment MS on Optimization and Inverse Analysis in Forming, Machining and Cutting, Material Behavior Modelling, New and Advanced Numerical Strategies for Material Forming, Non-Conventional Processes, Polymer Processing and Thermomechanical Properties, Sustainability on Material Forming, and Property-Controlled Forming.

The German Academic Association for Production Technology (WGP) annually invites researchers coming from its institutes and from industry to contribute peer reviewed papers in the field of production technology. This congress proceedings provides recent research results and findings on leading-edge manufacturing processes. Main aim of this scientific congress is to push forward existing borders in production and to provide novel solutions of "Production at the Leading Edge of Manufacturing Technology. The subtitle “Technology-Based Sustainable Production for Circular Economy” of this year’s congress emphasizes challenges for global productions in the light of climate change and resource scarcity. Different sessions were held on the topics Environmentally neutral production (e.g. energy and material efficiency) Resilient Value Creation Systems Biointelligence Digitization as an Enabler for Sustainable Production Production Technologies for a Circular Economy

The focus of the Congress will be leading-edge manufacturing processes. Topics include manufacturing at extreme speed, size, accuracy, methodology, use of resources, interdisciplinarity and more. Contributions from production and industrial engineering are welcome. Challenges from the areas of manufacturing, machines and production systems will be addressed. Production research constantly pushes the boundaries of what is feasible. The Congress "Production at the leading edge of technology" will highlight production processes that are advancing into areas that until recently were considered unfeasible, also in terms of methodology, use of resources and interdisciplinarity. But where does the search for new limits lead? Which limitations do we still have to overcome, which ones do we not want to overcome? The aim of the German-speaking colloquium is to establish connections between the research locations and to intensify the overall transfer of results and experience with industrial users.

This congress proceedings provides recent research on leading-edge manufacturing processes. The aim of this scientific congress is to work out diverse individual solutions of "production in the border area" and transferable methodological approaches. In addition, guest speakers with different backgrounds will give the congress participants food for thoughts, interpretations, views and suggestions. The manufacturing industry is currently undergoing a profound structural change, which on the one hand produces innovative solutions through the use of high-performance communication and information technology, and on the other hand is driven by new requirements for goods, especially in the mobility and energy sector. With the social discourse on how we should live and act primarily according to guidelines of sustainability, structural change is gaining increasing dynamic. It is essential to translate politically specified sustainability goals into socially accepted and marketable technical solutions. Production research is meeting this challenge and will make important contributions and provide innovative solutions from different perspectives.

Papers presented at the seminar held in Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad India in 2003.