Traditional attribute control charts are based on the monitoring of the number of nonconforming items in a sample of fixed size. In modern manufacturing processes, since items can be checked automatically, use of samples of a fixed subjective size with traditional charts is not suitable for...

The idea of robotic floor cleaning landed on the housekeeping industry like an alien from outer space in the early part of the decade. An industry that had seen little progress in the past 100 years suddenly was faced with a method of scrubbing and sweeping floors without a human being trailing...

Describes one of the first robotic installations in a brickworks in Europe, now operating in the UK at the Warnham factory of Ibstock Building Products in Horsham. Explains how the ten Fanuc robots form part of a major investment in new machinery supplied to the UK plant by French company,...

Automated inspection of the inner surface of a pipe can be achieved by a mobile robot. Pipe inspection is necessary to locate defects due to corrosion and wear while the pipe is transporting fluids. Pipe inspection devices are available for these tasks; they commonly use ultrasonic or magnetic...

Studies the justification problems of automated manufacturing systems (AMS) by using a multiple‐criteria decision making (MCDM) approach such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP). An example from Indian manufacturing has been studied. Strategic, technological and social impacts have been...

Today, due to the rapid change of manufacturing technology, many firms have to produce efficiently with minimum cost and best quality in order to maintain their status in the markets. Having invested a great deal of money in R&D the manufacturing environment is very competitive, using many...