Intelligent Computation in Manufacturing Engineering - 5

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 four previous ones of 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004, 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 20 countries and 4 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 technology and communication, e-business, human factors, knowledge extraction and management. 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. The centrality of the concept of competitiveness is such that a modified title for this Volume was proposed during the informal discussions: Intelligent Computation for Competitive Manufacturing Engineering.