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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Analysis of environmental organic matters by Ultrahigh-Resolution mass spectrometry—A review on the development of analytical methods

Owing to the increasing environmental and climate changes globally, there is an increasing interest in the molecular-level understanding of environmental organic compound mixtures, that is, the pursuit of complete and detailed knowledge of the chemical compositions and related chemical reactions. Environmental organic molecule mixtures, including those in air, soil, rivers, and oceans, have extremely complex and heterogeneous chemical compositions. For their analyses, ultrahigh-resolution and sub-ppb level mass accuracy, achievable using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), are important. FT-ICR MS has been successfully used to analyze complex environmental organic molecule mixtures such as natural, soil, particulate, and dissolved organic matter. Despite its success, many limitations still need to be overcome. Sample preparation, ionization, structural identification, chromatographic separation, and data interpretation are some key areas that have been the focus of numerous studies. This review describes key developments in analytical techniques in these areas to aid researchers seeking to start or continue investigations for the molecular-level understanding of environmental organic compound mixtures.