In the latter half of the 20th century, forces have conspired to make the human community, at last, global. The easing of tensions between major nations, the expansion of trade to worldwide markets, widespread travel and cultural exchange, pervasive high-speed communications and automation, the explosion of knowledge, the streamlining of business, and the adoption of flexible methods have changed the face of manufacturing itself, and of research and education in manufacturing. The acceptance of the continuous improvement process as a means for organizations to respond quickly and effectively to swings in the global market has led to the demand for individuals educated in a broad range of cultural, organizational, and technical fields and capable of absorbing and adapting required knowledge and training throughout their careers. No longer will manufacturing research and education focus on an industrial sector or follow a national trend, but rather will aim at enabling international teams of companies to cooperate in rapidly designing, prototyping, and manufacturing products. The successful enterprise of the 21st century will be characterized by an organizational structure that efficiently responds to customer demands and changing global circumstances, a corporate culture that empowers employees at all levels and encourages constant communication among related groups, and a technological infrastructure that fully supports process improvement and integration. In changing itself to keep abreast of the broader transformation in manufacturing, the enterprise must look first at its organization and culture, and thereafter at supporting technologies.

Inhalt

Preface. Towards computer-aided rapid product realization - G.J. Olling. Enhancing life-cycle integration through the application of case-based reasoning to qualify function deployment - D.A. Adams, C. Irgens, E. MacArthur & B. Lees. A case study on CAD/CAM data transfer in CIM environment - K.P. Mahadevan, J. Mou, M.R. Henderson & D.L. Shunk, The object oriented modelling for product data management (PDM) - S.H. Kim, T.H. Oh & J.Y. Park. Definition of numerical models for rapid product dev elopment - A. Bernard & M. Veron. Impacts of data mining techn ology on prioduct design and process plannng - C.H. Dagli & H.C. Lee On the implemetation of product model interfaces in CIME - T. Sorensen. A long-term planning approach for small-medium design enterprise networks - F. Bonfatti, P.D. Monari & A. Morini Global supply chain intergration - F.L. Krause & M. Doblies. A platform to support production planning and management in a virtual enterprise - L.M. Camarinha-Matos A Fuzzy approach t othe globalization of product activities - A. Portioli. Modelling to suppurt a food industry in the exteded enterprise - I Hunt, R, Carelli, J. Pellicer I. Mazon-Gonzalez & V.H. Chacon Utlizing real-time market demand information in the integration of the supply chain in the food industry - J. Slotte, HG. Nyman & J. Holmstrom. Multi-axis machining with additional axis NC system - S.H. Suh, J.J. Lee & S.K. Kim. The validity of Z-map model for mold and die machining - J.W. park & B.K. Choi. Probabilistic approaches for estimating surface roughness in multi-pass horizontal operations -H.G. Choi, M.K. Yeo & J.Y. Kim. Simulation study of the process paremeters of a new precision grinding method - Y. Wand, K.S. Moon & M.H. Miller. A computer model for tool management information system - R.V. Narang. A comprensive methodology for the development of manufacturing enterprise systems -C.L. Ang. Using IDEFO to develop generic business process models - R. Maull, A. Weaver, A. Smart & S. Childe. Process assessment method - an approach for business process development - T. Laakso. Informstion transfers as a metric for engineering processes - M.P. Klapsis & V. Thom son. Consequences of current organizatinal concepts on management control and design/production processes interaction - O. Senechal, D Raviart & C. Tahon Machining feature generation based on a facility model and manufacturing knowledge - M Matsuda & F. Kimura Simulation of wires handling for the auomation of industrial processes - Denti, P. Dragoni, G. Frugoli & C. Rizzi. Integration of reverse engineering and rapid prototyping with data reduction - Y.H. Chen, C.T. Ng & Y.Z. Wang. Performance prediction of P/M electrodes in EDM using artificial neural network - P.K. Phillip, M.P. Samuel, T. George & G. Kuppiswamy. Rapid manufacture of dinnerware - R.K.L. Gay, C.K. Chua & W. Hoheisel. Design issues of an intergrated software workbench supporting the manufacturing systems design process - M. Garretti, A. Bartolotta, E. Corradi, M. Rabe & A. Raimondo. World wide simulation envornment (WISE) - K. Morita, K. Kawashima, J. Saito, Y.Naruko, M. Okamoto & H. Suxuki. A scenario simulation for re-engineering potential asssessment - J.M. Lehtonen & K. Marttilla. Group technology: generation and selectio of the best criteris alternative - B. Malakooti, Z. Yang, E.C. Tandler & J. Al-Alwani. Reduction of the cycle time inthe manufacturing using simulation - A.W. Chan, A. Satir & V.J. Thomson. Experiments with a knowledge based simulator and scheduler system - G.L. Kovacs. Keynote paper - inverse manufacturing: from products to service. Advances in measurement system integration - J. Lenner, F.E. Plonka, D. Carnahan & R. Jaikumar. Sensor-fusion methodology for reducing product quality variation - J. Mou, S.D. Jones & R.J. Furnes. Evaluation of roughness of machinrd surfaces usinf vision system by phase shifting method - M.B. Kiran,