With increasing global competition for manufacturers, interest has grown among researchers and practitioners in the role of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) in assisting firms to maintain their competitive edge. To contribute to the debate, this paper presents three case studies, one...

To assess and improve the reliability of computerized numerical control (CNC) lathes, it is essential to collect field failure information throughout the products’ life and perform analysis on these data. This paper describes the collection of field failure data, codification of data and...

Mechatronics, the art of combining robotics, computer control, and electronics, was the topic at the recent annual M 2 VIP conference (mechatronics and machine vision in practice) held at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia, 23‐25 September. This was the fourth...

Describes the application of an industrial robot to the rapid prototyping of 3D CAD‐defined products. Outlines the equipment and the major software issues of the fully automatic offline generation of the robot instructions. Presents performance, limitations and practical results.

The success of any manufacturing concern greatly depends on the effective functioning of the management at the strategic level. The importance of Advanced Manufacturing Systems (AMS) such as Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) has been increasing because of their competitive advantages. With...

The project Users Demands on CNC‐Lathes, commenced in 1988, is examined. The project′s main object was to contribute to an increase in the empirically‐based knowledge of the new demands involved in management, organisation and the operators′ job content along with the design of...