Design and manufacturing are two key areas that support and influence a nation's industry. Despite various revolutionary changes and innovations in the 20th century, we are constantly facing new challenges when striving to achieve greater success in winning global competitions. Today, collaborative design, distributed manufacturing and process optimization are unforeseeably driven by product customization and business decentralization. Mirroring the trend, the theme of this special issue focuses on Challenges in Design and Manufacturing, in an attempt to address some of the important problems facing design and manufacturing in the 21st century.
The first problem addressed in this special issue is collaborative design. Owing to its complexity, a large-scale design is usually decomposed into a number of sub-design problems and then distributed to individual members within a design team from the same company or individual contractors from different companies. One of the most important considerations in collaborative design is how to achieve a good design agreeable across the design team. As discussed in the first paper (Modelling for cooperative multi-team based design optimization by Li et al.), a systematic approach would include proper design decomposition, clear goal formulation, accurate preference modelling and optimal satisfaction aggregation. The key is to maintain communication among all the members during the design process.
The second problem addressed in this special issue is mass customization. Owing to the high-frequency change in manufacturing systems, instead of using conventional dedicated machine lines (DML), the concept of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) has emerged. RMS would allow for reconfiguration of the existing manufacturing systems with the exact capability and functionality when needed to produce a new product. Reconfiguration of a mass production system is called ‘mass customization’. As discussed in the second paper (The complexity of mass customization systems under different inventory strategies by Zhang and Efstathiou), since mass customization is extremely dynamic, different inventory strategies should be taken into consideration. Furthermore, in the third paper (An extended model of ATP to increase flexibility of delivery by Zschorn), a decision-making system is described for the purpose of increasing the flexibility in the inventory systems.
The third problem addressed in this special issue is distributed process planning and dynamic scheduling. Compared with the design process, the manufacturing process is even more distributed. In many companies, especially large ones, design is usually carried out within the company. However, various parts are manufactured by a number of sub-contractors around the world for the purpose of cost saving. As discussed in the fourth paper (Embedding machining features in function blocks for distributed process planning by Wang et al.), a flexible and distributed process planning (DPP) system is now in great demand to replace conventional computer-aided process planning (CAPP) systems. Furthermore, in the fifth paper (Scheduling multi-operation jobs in partially overlapping systems by Wang et al.), discussion is carried out on how to schedule a production system with multi-operation jobs under a highly dynamic working environment.
The fourth problem addressed in this special issue is optimization of manufacturing processes. In the sixth paper (Model-based control of a Hexapod with linear direct drives by Denkena et al.), a parallel kine matic machine is discussed, aiming at high-speed machining. In the seventh paper (Development of intelligent monitoring and optimization of cutting process for CNC turning by Moriwaki et al.), new advance is reported on the development of real-time process optimization system for CNC turning based on process monitoring, such as tool wear monitoring and tool breakage detection. In the final paper (Opportunistic electrode replacement in a robotic spot welding system by Mechefske and Zeng), a similar system is developed for laser welding, focusing on electrode replacement and general maintenance optimization.
Through this special issue, we would like to shed some light on the recent research and development on design and manufacturing, and hope to open doors for new design and manufacturing research for the 21st century.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the authors for their scientific contributions to the special issue, and for complying with referees' comments in revising their manuscripts. We would also like to express our appreciations to the referees who made valuable suggestions in improving the manuscripts. Finally, we would gratefully like to acknowledge the trust and support provided by Dr Stephen Newman, Editor-in-Chief, in the process of collating this special issue.