Editorial

Next-Generation Manufacturing (NGM) refers to the application of new concepts, models, methodologies and information technologies, with the goal of preparing manufacturing companies to become more competitive in a global and networked environment. An important element of NGM is the capital equipment, which evolves to meet the demands of the new manufacturing processes. The new machines for NGM will have the following characteristics:

1. adaptation to heterogeneous environments;

2. operation in distributed networks;

3. modular and open architecture;

4. human – machine interfaces based on intelligent software and hardware;

5. scalability;

6. fault tolerance.

This special issue of the International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing presents the state-of-the-art in research associated with reconfigurable and intelligent machines for NGM with contributions related to methodologies and supporting technologies for machine development and machine concepts. These contributions include a wide range of perspectives, including those of research groups from Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Singapore, Spain and the United States.

The special issue begins with a section devoted to the study of the characteristics of machines of the next generation. The paper ‘Next-generation manufacturing systems: key research issues in developing and integrating reconfigurable and intelligent machines’ by A. Molina et al. explains the evolution of the manufacturing systems towards NGM and the role of reconfigurable machines in them. The article also presents a general overview of the research issues associated with machines for NGM. Methodologies for machine development are addressed in the paper ‘The operative process as a frame of reference for equipment portfolio design’ by C. Riba-Romeva et al., which emphasizes the need to consider the complete process (manufacturing or service) associated with the development of machine portfolios. This approach implies that a single machine design needs to consider previous and subsequent operations of the complete process. Finally, the paper ‘From mechatronics to self-optimizing concepts and structures in mechanical engineering – new approaches of design methodology’ by J. Gausemeier proposes a new methodology to develop mechatronic products that requires integration of multiple disciplines for operation (mechanical engineering, electronics engineering, control engineering and software engineering), together with the capability to react in a changing environment.

The next section of the special issue deals with supporting technologies for the development of reconfigurable machines and starts with the paper ‘Knowledge management support for machine tool designers using expert enablers’ by J. Nacsa et al. This article presents a knowledge management approach that is specifically tailored for machine tool development. This approach is aimed at helping young designers and also capturing the collective experience of a company. The reconfiguration and intelligence capability of machines for NGM heavily relies on software engineering. A new approach for software component integration in the development of intelligent components for machines and manufacturing systems is presented in ‘Requirements and solutions to software encapsulation and engineering in next-generation manufacturing systems: OOONEIDA approach’ by F. Auinger et al.

Another significant component of intelligent machines is the introduction of better manufacturing process models into machine controllers and planning – programming systems. This issue is addressed in the paper ‘Cutting force integration at the CAM stage in the high-speed milling of complex surfaces’, by A. Lamikiz et al. in the context of sculptured surfaces manufacturing for dies and moulds. The section on supporting technologies is closed with the paper ‘Virtual reality applications for the next-generation manufacturing’ by E. M. Rubio et al. which presents a general methodology for the development of virtual environments for NGM systems.

This special issue also presents two examples of reconfigurable machine concepts. The paper ‘A reconfigurable parallel kinematic drilling machine and its motion planning’ by Z. Li and R. Klatz deals with a reconfigurable machine concept for drilling operations that delivers better cycle times with increased flexibility, by integrating motion planning, kinematic synthesis and linear motors. The paper ‘Task-oriented configuration design for reconfigurable parallel manipulator systems’ by A. K. Dash et al. shows a methodology to automate the configuration of parallel manipulators for a given task definition (including functional characteristics such as stiffness, power consumption and floor space) through the combination of a set of existing modules with fixed and variable dimensions.