How to rethink innovation and revitalize America's declining manufacturing sector by encouraging advanced manufacturing, bringing innovative technologies into the production process. The United States lost almost one-third of its manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010. As higher-paying manufacturing jobs are replaced by lower-paying service jobs, income inequality has been approaching third world levels. In particular, between 1990 and 2013, the median income of men without high school diplomas fell by an astonishing 20% between 1990 and 2013, and that of men with high school diplomas or some college fell by a painful 13%. Innovation has been left largely to software and IT startups, and increasingly U.S. firms operate on a system of “innovate here/produce there,” leaving the manufacturing sector behind. In this book, William Bonvillian and Peter Singer explore how to rethink innovation and revitalize America's declining manufacturing sector. They argue that advanced manufacturing, which employs such innovative technologies as 3-D printing, advanced material, photonics, and robotics in the production process, is the key. Bonvillian and Singer discuss transformative new production paradigms that could drive up efficiency and drive down costs, describe the new processes and business models that must accompany them, and explore alternative funding methods for startups that must manufacture. They examine the varied attitudes of mainstream economics toward manufacturing, the post-Great Recession policy focus on advanced manufacturing, and lessons from the new advanced manufacturing institutes. They consider the problem of “startup scaleup,” possible new models for training workers, and the role of manufacturing in addressing “secular stagnation” in innovation, growth, the middle classes, productivity rates, and related investment. As recent political turmoil shows, the stakes could not be higher.

This book introduces readers to additive technology and its application in different business sectors. It explores the fundamental impact additive has on technology, particularly on operations, innovation, supply chains, the environment and customer relations. Subsequently, on the basis of a broad survey of the best technology adopters, it offers advice on how to enhance business value by implementing the technology in different industrial and commercial environments. Additive manufacturing (AM) is a new area of manufacturing that has already brought about phenomenal changes to industry and business models. It affects nearly all aspects of the managerial and organizational thinking that was applied to conventional manufacturing. Currently, the technology is being adopted in manufacturing areas that involve high-value products with complex geometries, and small to medium production volumes. It boosts the productivity of new product development processes by slashing costs, reducing time and promoting creativity and innovativeness. Further, it shrinks supply chains by bringing firms closer to their customers. This unique book offers abundant empirical and practical evidence confirming the value of this new technology.

Advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) combine novel manufacturing techniques and machines with the application of information technology, microelectronics and new organizational practices within the manufacturing sector. They include "hard" technologies such as rapid prototyping, and "soft" technologies such as scanned point cloud data manipulation. AMTs contribute significantly to medical and biomedical engineering. The number of applications is rapidly increasing, with many important new products now under development. Advanced Manufacturing Technology for Medical Applications outlines the state of the art in advanced manufacturing technology and points to the future development of this exciting field. Early chapters look at actual medical applications already employing AMT, and progress to how reverse engineering allows users to create system solutions to medical problems. The authors also investigate how hard and soft systems are used to create these solutions ready for building. Applications follow where models are created using a variety of different techniques to suit different medical problems One of the first texts to be dedicated to the use of rapid prototyping, reverse engineering and associated software for medical applications Ties together the two distinct disciplines of engineering and medicine Features contributions from experts who are recognised pioneers in the use of these technologies for medical applications Includes work carried out in both a research and a commercial capacity, with representatives from 3 companies that are established as world leaders in the field – Medical Modelling, Materialise, & Anatomics Covers a comprehensive range of medical applications, from dentistry and surgery to neurosurgery and prosthetic design Medical practitioners interested in implementing new advanced methods will find Advanced Manufacturing Technology for Medical Applications invaluable as will engineers developing applications for the medical industry. Academics and researchers also now have a vital resource at their disposal.

This book disseminates recent research, theories, and practices relevant to the areas of surface engineering and the processing of materials for functional applications in the aerospace, automobile, and biomedical industries. The book focuses on the hidden technologies and advanced manufacturing methods that may not be standardized by research institutions but are greatly beneficial to material and manufacturing industrial engineers in many ways. It details projects, research activities, and innovations in a global platform to strengthen the knowledge of the concerned community. The book covers surface engineering including coating, deposition, cladding, nanotechnology, surface finishing, precision machining, processing, and emerging advanced manufacturing technologies to enhance the performance of materials in terms of corrosion, wear, and fatigue. The book captures the emerging areas of materials science and advanced manufacturing engineering and presents recent trends in research for researchers, field engineers, and academic professionals.

Manufacturing systems, regardless of their size, have to work with scarce resources in dynamic environments. Effective Resource Management in Manufacturing Systems aims to provide methods for achieving effective resource allocation and to solve related problems that occur daily and often generate cost overruns. This book will be bought by postgraduate students of business, engineering and computer science as well as researchers in these fields. It will also be of interest to practitioners in manufacturing systems and operations managers in industry.

This textbook covers in detail digitally-driven methods for adding materials together to form parts. A conceptual overview of additive manufacturing is given, beginning with the fundamentals so that readers can get up to speed quickly. Well-established and emerging applications such as rapid prototyping, micro-scale manufacturing, medical applications, aerospace manufacturing, rapid tooling and direct digital manufacturing are also discussed. This book provides a comprehensive overview of additive manufacturing technologies as well as relevant supporting technologies such as software systems, vacuum casting, investment casting, plating, infiltration and other systems. Reflects recent developments and trends and adheres to the ASTM, SI and other standards; Includes chapters on topics that span the entire AM value chain, including process selection, software, post-processing, industrial drivers for AM, and more; Provides a broad range of technical questions to ensure comprehensive understanding of the concepts covered.