Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering - 7

The main scope of the Volume is to provide an international forum for the dissemination of up-to-date knowledge, information, experience and results, and for the review of progress and the discussion on the state-of-the-art and future trends in intelligent computing techniques in the various fields of manufacturing technology and systems. This Volume, like the six previous ones of 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 resulted from the activities of the Working Group on Applications of Artificial Intelligence Methods in Manufacturing Engineering, 1995-98, carried out within the Scientific-Technical Committee on Optimization (STC-O) of the International Institution of Production Engineering Research (CIRP). The Volume contains contributions by scientists from 25 countries and 5 continents. The topics dealt with range from manufacturing systems issues (production automation and control, planning and scheduling, production networks, production organization and management, life cycle issues, logistics, supply chain management, assembly systems, etc.) to production aspects (process planning, machining, forming, micro-manufacturing, non traditional manufacturing, advanced production machines, rapid manufacturing, robotics, metrology, nondestructive evaluation, quality assurance, material characterization) to innovative design technology subjects (tolerancing, reverse engineering, virtual reality) and to innovative matters such as information and communication technology, e-business, human factors, service robots, knowledge extraction and management. From this ample compilation of technical and scientific contributions, there emerges how the growing complexity of today's industrial scenarios places increasingly greater emphasys on artificial systems, ranging from smart devices and service robots to intelligent machines and manufacturing cells, which can deal autonomously with technological needs and with peculiarities of the environment where production processes take place. The challange is to extend engineering manufacture methods to handle open-ended and frequently changing real industrial operation conditions. A primary aim is to develop innovatory capabilities to respond intelligently to gaps in production systems' knowledge and to situations or contexts that have not been specified in the original design. To meet this challange, a mix of vanguard scientific theory and technology is needed, based on natural and artificial cognition in conjunction with novel systems design and manufacturing engineering principles and implementations for new machines, advanced processes and innovative production systems which are robust and versatile enough to cope with true industrial operative circumstances and to behave in a user-friendly and intuitive way with technicians and engineers in every day working situations. Although the approaches presented and the problems tackled were very diverse, one common aspect could be easily identified in the importance and centrality of competitiveness. Intelligent computing methods, paradigms and tools are developed and applied with the principal aim to make the production system, the fabrication technology, and the manufacturing procedure the more competitive.