The theme of this book is the development of partnerships between manufacturing companies, their suppliers and customers and the facilitating of these partnerships by information technology and telecommunications. In the 1980s the emphasis in manufacturing was on integration 'within the four walls' of the manufacturing plant. The main issues facing researchers and industrial practitioners at the time were CAD/CAM integration, integration of production planning and control systems, the development of sophisticated computer driven manufacturing, assembly and testing systems and their control through sophisticated shop floor control systems. Today the emphasis has moved towards supply chain management (integration of the supply chain through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Just in Time (JIT) or Quick Response approaches) and customer driven manufacturing. This includes the integration of manufacturing and distribution/logistics planning and control systems. Consequently, success for manufacturing companies in the 1990s requires closer collaboration with customers, suppliers and distributors than in the past. Information Technology and the emergence of a powerful global information infrastructure enable manufacturing industries throughout Europe to develop collaborative partnership across the value chain. Successful collaboration is achieved by the sharing of information at all phases of the business cycle, across the supply chain and across national and international boundaries. The need to collaborate across the supply chain has particular consequences for small and medium sized manufacturing (SMEs) companies, many of whom are compared and subassembly suppliers to the larger companies. Indeed the collaboration between supplier SMEs and their large customers has, in many cases, gone beyond JIT supply of components based on orders delivered, processed and frequently paid for using EDI technology and now extends to joint design and engineering activity. Collaboration between manufacturing companies across the supply chain is therefore placing increasing pressure on the developers of the global information superhighway and on the developers of CAD and other engineering software to ensure compliance with emerging standards, such as STEP, in order to allow intercompany collaboration. These are the issues which form the background of this book. The book is aimed at those researchers and industrial practitioners interested in learning about recent progress in manufacturing systems research and application. Mature results emerging from the ESPRIT-IiM programme are presented. Readers: Manufacturing managers an engineers, Quality/process engineers, IT suppliers/vendors, Academic researchers, Technology transfer centres and Industrial associations.

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) - a program of the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology - has sought for more than two decades to strengthen American manufacturing. It is a national network of affiliated manufacturing extension centers and field offices located throughout all fifty states and Puerto Rico. Funding for MEP Centers comes from a combination of federal, state, local and private resources. Centers work directly with manufacturing firms in their state or sub-state region. MEP Centers provide expertise, services and assistance directed toward improving growth, supply chain positioning, leveraging emerging technologies, improving manufacturing processes, work force training, and the application and implementation of information in client companies through direct assistance provided by Center staff and from partner organizations and third party consultants. 21st Century Manufacturing seeks to generate a better understanding of the operation, achievements, and challenges of the MEP program in its mission to support, strengthen, and grow U.S. manufacturing. This report identifies and reviews similar national programs from abroad in order to draw on foreign practices, funding levels, and accomplishments as a point of reference and discusses current needs and initiatives in light of the global focus on advanced manufacturing,

The managed flow of goods and information from raw material to final sale also known as a "supply chain" affects everythingâ€"from the U.S. gross domestic product to where you can buy your jeans. The nature of a company's supply chain has a significant effect on its success or failureâ€"as in the success of Dell Computer's make-to-order system and the failure of General Motor's vertical integration during the 1998 United Auto Workers strike. Supply Chain Integration looks at this crucial component of business at a time when product design, manufacture, and delivery are changing radically and globally. This book explores the benefits of continuously improving the relationship between the firm, its suppliers, and its customers to ensure the highest added value. This book identifies the state-of-the-art developments that contribute to the success of vertical tiers of suppliers and relates these developments to the capabilities that small and medium-sized manufacturers must have to be viable participants in this system. Strategies for attaining these capabilities through manufacturing extension centers and other technical assistance providers at the national, state, and local level are suggested. This book identifies action steps for small and medium-sized manufacturersâ€"the "seed corn" of business start-up and developmentâ€"to improve supply chain management. The book examines supply chain models from consultant firms, universities, manufacturers, and associations. Topics include the roles of suppliers and other supply chain participants, the rise of outsourcing, the importance of information management, the natural tension between buyer and seller, sources of assistance to small and medium-sized firms, and a host of other issues. Supply Chain Integration will be of interest to industry policymakers, economists, researchers, business leaders, and forward-thinking executives.

This book presents state-of-the-art research, challenges and solutions in the area of human–robot collaboration (HRC) in manufacturing. It enables readers to better understand the dynamic behaviour of manufacturing processes, and gives more insight into on-demand adaptive control techniques for industrial robots. With increasing complexity and dynamism in today’s manufacturing practice, more precise, robust and practical approaches are needed to support real-time shop-floor operations. This book presents a collection of recent developments and innovations in this area, relying on a wide range of research efforts. The book is divided into five parts. The first part presents a broad-based review of the key areas of HRC, establishing a common ground of understanding in key aspects. Subsequent chapters focus on selected areas of HRC subject to intense recent interest. The second part discusses human safety within HRC. The third, fourth and fifth parts provide in-depth views of relevant methodologies and algorithms. Discussing dynamic planning and monitoring, adaptive control and multi-modal decision making, the latter parts facilitate a better understanding of HRC in real situations. The balance between scope and depth, and theory and applications, means this book appeals to a wide readership, including academic researchers, graduate students, practicing engineers, and those within a variety of roles in manufacturing sectors.

Presents Lamming's "lean supply" model and describes the development of the International Automotive Components Industry from 1900 to the present day. The book discusses shared technical change and innovation in this context, and explores vendor-customer relationships.

The Manufacturing USA initiative seeks to reinforce U.S.-based advanced manufacturing through partnerships among industry, academia, and government. Started in 2012 and established with bipartisan support by the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2014, the initiative envisages a nationwide network of research centers for manufacturing innovation. As of May 2017, 14 manufacturing innovation institutes had been established to facilitate the movement of early-stage research into proven capabilities ready for adoption by U.S. manufacturers. To better understand the role and experiences of the Manufacturing USA institutes to date, a committee of the Innovation Policy Forum of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on May 23, 2017 drawing together institute directors and manufacturing policy experts along with leaders from industry, academia, and government. Participants addressed the role of the manufacturing institutes in increasing advanced manufacturing in the United States, examined selected foreign programs designed to support advanced manufacturing, and reviewed recent assessments of existing institutes. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Digital Twin Driven Smart Manufacturing examines the background, latest research, and application models for digital twin technology, and shows how it can be central to a smart manufacturing process.The interest in digital twin in manufacturing is driven by a need for excellent product reliability, and an overall trend towards intelligent, and connected manufacturing systems. This book provides an ideal entry point to this subject for readers in industry and academia, as it answers the questions: (a) What is a digital twin? (b) How to construct a digital twin? (c) How to use a digital twin to improve manufacturing efficiency? (d) What are the essential activities in the implementation of a digital twin? (e) What are the most important obstacles to overcome for the successful deployment of a digital twin? (f) What are the relations between digital twin and New Technologies? (g) How to combine digital twin with the New Technologies to achieve high efficiency and smartness in manufacturing?This book focuses on these problems as it aims to help readers make the best use of digital twin technology towards smart manufacturing. - Analyzes the differences, synergies and possibilities for integration between digital twin technology and other technologies, such as big data, service and Internet of Things - Discuss new requirements for a traditional three-dimension digital twin and proposes a methodology for a five-dimension version - Investigates new models for optimized manufacturing, prognostics and health management, and cyber-physical fusion based on the digital twin