China——the market with the biggest potential in the 21st century

The year 2001 was not an optimistic one for the worldeconomy.The United States and Japan,which were describedas the power engine of the world economy,suffered from adecline in economic growth,which led to the slow-down ofthe global economic development.Against this background,the Chinese economy,however,maintained sustainable and     

Implementation of rapid Prototyping technology — A Hong Kong manufacturing industry's perspective

Rapid Prototyping (RP) is a technology for rapid computerised building of 3D physical parts. It can be defined as an automated and patternless process which allows solid physical parts to be made directly from computer data in a short time. RP acts as the manufacturing middle to link up the computer-aided design (CAD) process and manufacturing processes. It includes the making of prototypes for design verification and even the making of tooling for production. With the trend towards concurrent engineering and the widespread use of CAD, RP has quickly become a booming business in the past few years. This paper presents an overview of the implementation of RP technology in Hong Kong and the critical decision factors in implementing RP in the Hong Kong manufacturing industry.     

Energy consumption reduction technology in manufacturing — A selective review of policies, standards, and research

Research on the improvement of efficiency in the manufacturing industry is underdeveloped partly because of the ambiguous objectives of the technical development of efficiencies in terms of energy consumption reduction. Consequently, the technical development of high-efficiency techniques that consider the whole manufacturing system is rarely addressed in industrial research. For this reason, this report aims to find the patterns in, and the definitions of, the technologies that will lead to efficiency improvement in the entire manufacturing industry by thoroughly investigating the literature about energy consumption reduction strategies, energy policies, and the state-of-the-art for energy-saving methods that are being pursued currently in several major countries. Through this study, the necessity and importance of the foregoing three items have been identified, and a way of defining the productivities of an energy-saving manufacturing system distinct from those of conventional manufacturing systems was attempted. It is also shown that the development of energy-saving and energy-harvesting technologies for all industrial sectors has emerged as a herald of economic growth in the near future.     

Cost model development using virtual manufacturing and data mining: part I—methodology development

This paper reports on research, the aim of which has been to investigate the use of virtual manufacturing and data mining techniques to automate the identification of manufacturing process time estimating relationships that form the basis of product and process cost models. Such models provide information that is critical to all stages of the product development process and to ensuring that development of cost-effective product design and production methods. Use of virtual manufacturing models and data mining techniques enables the majority of the activities involved in the cost model development process to be automated. Hence, reducing the time and effort required, reducing the current high level of reliance on expert judgment and enabling higher levels of cost detail to be estimated. The research reported, therefore, focuses on the use of virtual manufacturing to generate datasets which are then analysed using data mining to identify suitable cost models for manufacturing processes. Part I, of this two-part paper, describes the development of a model development methodology that makes use of virtual manufacturing models and data mining techniques and uses case study data to validate this methodology. Part II will then examine in detail the effectiveness of alternative data mining algorithms in terms of their ability to develop relationships that are (1) representative of the real causal relationships that exist and (2) provide a high level of estimating accuracy.     

Direct filling—the technology of viscous product batching from the pressure product pipeline

The arrangement diagram of batchers which does not require drives is based on the use of pressure in the product pipeline. Such a batcher represents a nozzle on the pressure pipeline which by the signal from the controller produces a batch of product. Together with a high hygiene of dispensing, the batcher is distinguished by a significant operating speed and high accuracy. The diagrams of modular and rotor “direct filling” batchers are given that make it possible to increase the number of parallel channels of dispensing product batches, which is important for multiple-strand automatic product filling and packing lines.     

Digital Radiographic Systems Today—State of the Art (a Review)

The principles of operation of modern digital radiographic systems of various types are described and their basic performance specifications are reviewed.     

Cost model development using virtual manufacturing and data mining: part II—comparison of data mining algorithms

Cost models of manufacturing processes are an important tool enabling enterprises to make reasonable predictions and forecasts in relation to the production costs for existing and new products. Accurate and robust cost models can help to provide significant competitive advantage for manufacturing organisations. Advanced computational methods such as virtual manufacturing and data mining have been identified as potentially powerful techniques for generating cost models that bypass the problems associated with traditional cost modelling processes. Part I, of this two-part paper, described the development of a cost model development methodology that makes use of virtual manufacturing models and data mining techniques and used case study data to validate this methodology. A critical part of this methodology is the selection and use of effective data analysis techniques that can identify accurate and robust cost estimating relationships. Part II now examines in detail the effectiveness of alternative data mining algorithms in terms of their ability to develop relationships that are (1) representative of the real causal relationships that exist and (2) able to provide a high level of estimating accuracy. More specifically, it focuses on the data generated by virtual manufacturing models and how the size and complexity of the generated data sets impact the accuracy of the cost estimating relationships.     

Angular correlations in detection of α-γ coincidences in the nanosecond tagged neutron technology

The characteristics of the setup for analyzing the elemental composition of organic substances using spectroscopy of γ rays induced by tagged neutrons with an energy of ～14 MeV in an inelastic neutron scattering reaction are discussed. An ING-27 D-T neutron generator with a built-in position-sensitive α detector, fast neutron and γ detectors, and a multichannel detecting system providing a subnanosecond time resolution are parts of the experimental setup. The correlation between the exit angle of a neutron and the number of the α pixel, as well as the anisotropy in emission of γ rays in the inelastic neutron scattering reaction, are measured, and the errors of these measurements are estimated.     

Digital Factory—A Technology Show Case for Teaching and Research in Digital Maunfacturing

With the advancing digital technology and information tools in networking,the core of manufacturing activities has shifted from the physical production of goods to the systematic processing of knowledge.Teh competitiveness of tomorrow‘s manufacturing enterprise lies in the operation of such digital factory in parallel with the physical one.This change in manufactring in the digital age is taking place not only in Hong Kong but worldwide,This paper describes the development of establishing a digital factory laboratory in the Department of Industial and Systems Engineeing of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.The Digital Factory is a focus for teaching ,research and technology transfer in the area of digital manufacturing,The paper also describes an application case of vitual manufacturing in whic computer simulation models of a production line of an AC motor are developed for investigation.     

Digital in-line holography for the analysis of Bénard-convection

Digital in-line holography (Skarman et al., Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 7 (1) (1996) 1–6) represents a novel optical method for flow and temperature measurements of transparent liquid media. A CCD-camera is used to record digital holograms of tracer particles in a fluid volume. The procedure is based on the phase-shift method. Algorithms for computational focusing on individual particles in three dimensions have been developed. As an additional benefit the holographic recording contains interferometric information about the optical path length which in turn enables the calculation of the density and temperature profile of the flow.     

Industrial culture and its implication for a development concept for a “culture of manufacturing”

A great challenge for mankind is to shape the dynamic tension and relationship between the emergence of global structures and regional structures, to encourage productive cooperation. The science of cognitive anthropology provides an interdisciplinary approach to this problem by a combination of cognitive science, cultural anthropology, occupational science and engineering science.Industrialised countries usually have a tradition of handicraft production which forms a basis for the acquisition of the skills of technological development and transfer. Technological development can be considered as a cyclic process in which the diverging elements of the regional industrial culture, and the converging elements of the global industrial society are dynamically related. In the initial stages of design and development, cultural elements tend to dominate, in the later stages socio-industrial forces become more effective, transforming the initial divergent phase into a convergent one. The traditional approach to product development is considered and its deficiencies in relation to the development of complex organizational structures are outlined. The paper concludes that the concept of culture of manufacture can only be developed by an interdisciplinary approach and if academic knowledge and the specific abilities and approach of appliers and users are integrated into the technology shaping process.     

A Digital Controller with Deep Attenuation of the Signal Power in a Frequency Range of 1–4 GHz

The controller ensures discrete control of the signal level with a step of 1 dB and dynamic control range of up to 50 dB. The specified attenuation is stable to within ±1% in a temperature range of 10–30°C. Increased stability is achieved by using two functionally separated electrically controlled attenuators called unit and decade attenuator, respectively. The controller operation modes include an electric manual control and an automatic control from an external microprocessor with either a visual inspection of the controller state through a digital indicator or an automatic testing of this state using an external microprocessor.     

Analyzing the interaction of critical factors of supplier development using Interpretive Structural Modeling—an empirical study

In order to compete effectively in the global market, a company must have a network of competent suppliers. To create and maintain such a network and to improve various capabilities that are necessary for the buying organization to meet its increasing competitive challenges, the buying firms may engage in supplier development. To improve the supplier capabilities, the buying organizations have to consider various supplier development factors such as supplier base, communication with suppliers, direct involvement of suppliers, etc. Their significance and the role in supplier development process are also to be considered. These factors not only affect the supplier development process but also influence each other. However, the methodologies used in supplier development literature analyze the factors independently. This paper attempts to overcome the above, by analyzing the interrelationship between the supplier development factors. The Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) approach has employed to develop the structural relationship among supplier development factors and also tried to define the levels of different factors based on their driver/dependence power and their mutual relationships. Finally, the ISM result is compared with empirical study and a case study.