Manufacturing Knowledge Base

To be competitive nowadays it is absolutely necessary for manufacturers to align their products and production with customer demands. This customer-orientation is leading to an increasing number of variants and to shorter product life cycles requiring a high degree of flexibility, low-cost/low-volume manufacturing skills, and short time to market. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new rationalization potentials due to technological changes in products and assembly processes. New concepts for flexible automation and alternative strategies for employee-oriented assembly secure a leading position in the world market and open up new potential for additional employment. Authors: K. Feldmann, S. Slama, Institute for Manufacturing Automation and Production Systems, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. CIRP 2001 paper.