Handbook of Manufacturing Engineering and Technology

Abstract

Innovation and manufacturing capabilities are well known to be the wealth creator of any nation which has strong advanced manufacturing technologies for making high-value-added products and is able to compete globally. Manufacturing is evolving continuously, engulfing more technologies than several decades ago. The rapid development of Internet technology, computer science, materials research, microelectronics, and biosciences has propelled manufacturing activities far beyond mere product fabrication. Manufacturing technology has now entered into the realm of intelligent product creation, and yet at affordable prices, and is highly compatible with environmental concerns. Manufacturing knowledge has been created by both the academia and industry, but unfortunately a great deal of information is scattered over a myriad of published papers, reports, and books – some are publicly available, while others remain proprietary information and are well guarded by the organizations which created them.