Changeable and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems 2009th Edition

Change, in products and systems, has become a constant in manufacturing. Changeable and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems 2009th Edition discusses many key strategies for success in this environment. Changes can most often be anticipated but some go beyond the design range. This requires providing innovative change enablers and adaptation mechanisms.

Changeable and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems 2009th Edition presents the new concept of changeability as an umbrella framework that encompasses many paradigms such as agility, adaptability, flexibility and reconfigurability. The book provides the definitions and classification of key terms in this new field, and emphasizes the required physical/hard and logical/soft change enablers.

Over 22 chapters, the book presents cutting edge technologies, the latest thinking and research results, as well as future directions to help manufacturers stay competitive. It contains original contributions and results from senior international experts, experienced practitioners and accomplished researchers in the field of manufacturing, together with industrial applications. Changeable and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems 2009th Edition serves as a comprehensive reference and textbook for industrial professionals, managers, engineers, specialists, researchers and academics in manufacturing, industrial and mechanical engineering; and general readers who are interested to learn about the new and emerging manufacturing paradigms and their potential impact on the workplace and future jobs.

Hoda A. ElMaraghy, Ph.D., P.Eng., is currently Canada Research Chair in Manufacturing Systems, Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Director of the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) Centre at the University of Windsor. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers (CSME), Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Fellow of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP), Member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and an International Director for the American Society for Manufacturing Engineers. Her teaching and research interests are in manufacturing systems design, modeling, flexibility, reconfiguration, control, quality, inspection, assembly, process planning and robotics. Prof. ElMaraghy is one of the pioneering researchers who contributed to the introduction of technologies such as flexible manufacturing and reconfigurable manufacturing, as well as changeable manufacturing. She has acted as a consultant to industry internationally where the results of her research were used to improve the productivity and competitiveness of many manufacturers.