Preface to the special issue: Cybernetic manufacturing systems project—Ergonomics solutions for flexible production systems
✍ Scribed by Leonard O'Sullivan; Michiel P. de Looze
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 41 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1090-8471
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This special issue includes articles on research performed during the Cybernetic Manufacturing Systems (CyberManS) project, which was funded in part under the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The project was in response to a joint call under Information Society Technologies (IST) and Nanotechnologies and nanoscience, knowledge-based Multifunctional materials and new Production processes and devices (NMP). The joint call between IST and NMP was in recognition of the need for integrating technologies for a fast and flexible manufacturing industry.
The manufacturing industry has changed considerably over the last 100 years, from Tayloristic rigid, fast, repetitive manufacturing through the Toyota Lean engineering approach to mass customization. Never has the importance of flexible production processes been so obvious than in today's manufacturing climate. For example, it is now a common requirement for production systems to accommodate several platforms of vehicles on one production line. In European and other developed economics, innovation has focused on the development of higher value-added products, resulting in low-volume, high-variety product mixes