Here, leading researchers in production and materials technology work together to address the problem of keeping production competitive and sustainable in high-wage countries. They describe both scientific results and practical industrial applications.

Industrial production in high-wage countries like Germany is still at risk. Yet, there are many counter-examples in which producing companies dominate their competitors by not only compensating for their specific disadvantages in terms of factor costs (e.g. wages, energy, duties and taxes) but rather by minimising waste using synchronising integrativity as well as by obtaining superior adaptivity on alternating conditions. In order to respond to the issue of economic sustainability of industrial production in high-wage countries, the leading production engineering and material research scientists of RWTH Aachen University together with renowned companies have established the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries. This compendium comprises the cluster's scientific results as well as a selection of business and technology cases, in which these results have been successfully implemented into industrial practice in close cooperation with more than 30 companies of the industrial production sector.

Integrativity as a key factor of success for manufacturing companies in high-wage countries Interdisciplinary research results in production and materials science Impressive implementation of scientific results into industrial practice Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Brecher holds the Chair of Machine Tools at the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and is director and head of the department of production machines of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, Germany, since January 2004.

Inhalt

Introduction.- Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries.- Individualised production.- Virtual production systems.- Hybrid production systems.- Self-optimising production systems.- Integrative Business- und Technology Cases.- Subject index.