EN Corlett Joint-Chairman - COPED, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK The contributions offered to this Third National Conference demonstrate that research in production is very much alive. The considerable numbers of papers on robotics, automation and flexible manufacturing systems, together with those in production control and quality matters, demonstrate that there is much work going on in our colleges, polytechnics and universities related to modern methods of manufacture. The future of manufacture undoubtedly hinges on better control. Control over the supply and movement of materials is now keenly sought. Control over manufacturing equipment is also a goal, not just to maintain quality but to give flexibility in sequence and quantity. None of these objectives for improved performance is entirely a technical matter, although there is an increasing technical ability to influence all of them. To achieve their potential, they depend on competent people at all levels. Discussion with alert managers soon reveals that this is one of their major concerns. Either the people they have require more training, or they cannot hire the people with the abilities they need. This applies at all levels, and the availability of people with competence in manufacture is particularly low.

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 offers a timely yet comprehensive snapshot of innovative research and developments at the interface between manufacturing, materials and mechanical engineering, and quality assurance. It covers a wide range of manufacturing processes, such as cutting, grinding, assembly, and coatings, including ultrasonic treatment, molding, radial-isostatic compression, ionic-plasma deposition, volumetric vibration treatment, and wear resistance. It also highlights the advantages of augmented reality, RFID technology, reverse engineering, optimization, heat and mass transfer, energy management, quality inspection, and environmental impact. Based on selected papers presented at the Grabchenko’s International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing Processes (InterPartner-2020), held in Odessa, Ukraine, on September 8–11, 2020, this book offers a timely overview and extensive information on trends and technologies in production planning, design engineering, advanced materials, machining processes, process engineering, and quality assurance. It is also intended to facilitate communication and collaboration between different groups working on similar topics and offer a bridge between academic and industrial researchers.

This book reports on cutting-edge research and technologies in the field of advanced manufacturing and materials, with a special emphasis on unconventional machining process, rapid prototyping and biomaterials. It gathers contributions to the International Conference on Manufacturing Engineering and Materials (ICMEM 2020), which was originally planned in June 2020, but will actually take place in 2021, in Nový Smokovec, Slovakia, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the challenging times, submitted contributions were peer-reviewed, and upon a careful revision, included in this book, which covers advances that are expected to increase the industry’s competitiveness with regard to sustainable development and preservation of the environment and natural resources. Condition monitoring, industrial automation, and diverse fabrication processes such as welding, casting and molding, as well as tribology and bioengineering, are just a few of the topics discussed in the book’s wealth of authoritative contributions. A special emphasis is given to problems connected to climate change and solution manufacturer and engineers may adopt and develop to prevent and cope with them.

This book contains the papers presented at the International Joint Conference on Mechanics, Design Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (JCM 2018), held on 20-22 June 2018 in Cartagena, Spain. It reports on cutting-edge topics in product design and manufacturing, such as industrial methods for integrated product and process design; innovative design; and computer-aided design. Further topics covered include virtual simulation and reverse engineering; additive manufacturing; product manufacturing; engineering methods in medicine and education; representation techniques; and nautical, aeronautics and aerospace design and modeling. The book is divided into six main sections, reflecting the focus and primary themes of the conference. The contributions presented here will not only provide researchers, engineers and experts in a range of industrial engineering subfields with extensive information to support their daily work; they are also intended to stimulate new research directions, advanced applications of the methods discussed, and future interdisciplinary collaborations.

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 offers a timely yet comprehensive snapshot of innovative research and developments in the area of manufacturing. It covers a wide range of manufacturing processes, such as cutting, coatings, and grinding, highlighting the advantages provided by the use of new materials and composites, as well as new methods and technologies. It discusses topics in energy generation and pollution prevention. It shows how computational methods and mathematical models have been applied to solve a number of issues in both theoretical and applied research. Based on selected papers presented at the Grabchenko’s International Conference on Advanced Manufacturing Processes (InterPartner-2019), held in Odessa, Ukraine on September 10-13, 2019, this book offers a timely overview and extensive information on trends and technologies in the area of manufacturing, mechanical and materials engineering. It is also intended to facilitate communication and collaboration between different groups working on similar topics, and to offer a bridge between academic and industrial researchers.