The changing manufacturing environment requires more responsive and adaptable manufacturing systems. The theme of the 5th International Conference on Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual production (CARV2013) is "Enabling Manufacturing Competitiveness and Economic Sustainability. Leading edge research and best implementation practices and experiences, which address these important issues and challenges, are presented. The proceedings include advances in manufacturing systems design, planning, evaluation, control and evolving paradigms such as mass customization, personalization, changeability, re-configurability and flexibility. New and important concepts such as the dynamic product families and platforms, co-evolution of products and systems, and methods for enhancing manufacturing systems' economic sustainability and prolonging their life to produce more than one product generation are treated. Enablers of change in manufacturing systems, production volume and capability, scalability and managing the volatility of markets, competition among global enterprises and the increasing complexity of products, manufacturing systems and management strategies are discussed. Industry challenges and future directions for research and development needed to help both practitioners and academicians are presented. About the Editor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael F. Zaeh, born in 1963, has been and is Professor for and Manufacturing Technology since 2002 and, together with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gunther Reinhart, Head of the Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management (iwb) at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM). After studying general mechanical engineering, he was doctoral candidate under Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Milberg at TUM from 1990 until 1993 and received his doctorate in 1993. From 1994 to 1995, he was department leader under Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gunther Reinhart. From 1996 to 2002, he worked for a machine tool manufacturer in several positions, most recently as a member of the extended management. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael F. Zaeh is an associated member of the CIRP and member of acatech, WGP and WLP. His current researches include among others Joining and Cutting Technologies like Laser Cutting and Welding as well as Friction Stir Welding, Structural Behaviour and Energy Efficiency of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Processes like Additive Manufacturing.

The changing manufacturing environment requires more responsive and adaptable manufacturing systems. The theme of the 4th International Conference on Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual production (CARV2011) is “Enabling Manufacturing Competitiveness and Economic Sustainability”. Leading edge research and best implementation practices and experiences, which address these important issues and challenges, are presented. The proceedings include advances in manufacturing systems design, planning, evaluation, control and evolving paradigms such as mass customization, personalization, changeability, re-configurability and flexibility. New and important concepts such as the dynamic product families and platforms, co-evolution of products and systems, and methods for enhancing manufacturing systems’ economic sustainability and prolonging their life to produce more than one product generation are treated. Enablers of change in manufacturing systems, production volume and capability scalability and managing the volatility of markets, competition among global enterprises and the increasing complexity of products, manufacturing systems and management strategies are discussed. Industry challenges and future directions for research and development needed to help both practitioners and academicians are presented.

To adapt to global competitive pressures, manufacturers must develop methods and enabling technologies towards a personalized, customer oriented and sustainable manufacturing. Mass Customization and Sustainability defines the two concepts of mass customization and sustainability and introduces a framework to establish a link between the two concepts to answer the questions: Are these two aspects empowering one another? Or are they hindering one another? These questions investigate mass customization as one of the main driving forces to achieve effective sustainability. A methodology to assess the contribution of mass customization to sustainability is developed, providing an assessment model composed by a set of indicators covering the three aspects of sustainability: social, economical and environmental. This is supported and further explained using ideas and new concepts compiled from recent European research. Researchers, scientists, managers and industry professionals alike can follow a set of practical examples and industrial cases, enabling them to easily transfer Mass Customization and Sustainability theoretical concepts into actions to be enforced into their everyday business for gaining competitiveness. Mass Customization and Sustainability also introduces useful concepts for government officials responsible for establishing sustainable policies and regulations, offering methods to compare the results of implementation of such policies.

Manufacturing in Europe is under great pressure from structural changes in the global economy. The high technical, social and cultural standards in Europe mean that our manufacturing enterprises lead the world but inevitably production and consumption continues to migrate to regions that allow higher profitability from lower costs of production with the promise of new markets. Structural changes in European industries will influence employment and welfare. However, there are signs of a new High-Adding-Value industrial revolution. This book has the answers that will allow us to avoid the negative consequences of this migration. A new model of future manufacturing – ManuFuture - has been forged in discussion with the world’s leading scientists in manufacturing and many experts from research, industry and economic policy. The results of this, the road to competitive and sustainable manufacturing, are captured in this fundamental book. The generic Model of ManuFuture, a Vision 2020 and a Strategic Research Agenda and the proactive initiatives required are presented here. They show the approach to manufacturing in the age of knowledge and the actions that must be taken.

This edited volume presents the research results of the Collaborative Research Center 1026 “Sustainable manufacturing - shaping global value creation”. The book aims at providing a reference guide of sustainable manufacturing for researchers, describing methodologies for development of sustainable manufacturing solutions. The volume is structured in four chapters covering the following topics: sustainable manufacturing technology, sustainable product development, sustainable value creation networks and systematic change towards sustainable manufacturing. The target audience comprises both researchers and practitioners in the field of sustainable manufacturing, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

The proceedings includes the set of revised papers from the 23rd International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM 2013). This conference aims to provide an international forum for the exchange of leading edge scientific knowledge and industrial experience regarding the development and integration of the various aspects of Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems covering the complete life-cycle of a company’s Products and Processes. Contents will include topics such as: Product, Process and Factory Integrated Design, Manufacturing Technology and Intelligent Systems, Manufacturing Operations Management and Optimization and Manufacturing Networks and MicroFactories.

This book features state-of-the-art contributions from two well-established conferences: Changeable, Agile, Reconfigurable and Virtual Production Conference (CARV2020) and Mass Customization and Personalization Conference (MCPC2020). Together, they focus on the joint design, development, and management of products, production systems, and business for sustainable customization and personalization. The book covers a large range of topics within this domain, ranging from industrial success factors to original contributions within the field.

This book provides a synthesis of recent developments in Axiomatic Design theory and its application in large complex systems. Introductory chapters provide concise tutorial materials for graduate students and new practitioners, presenting the fundamentals of Axiomatic Design and relating its key concepts to those of model-based systems engineering. A mathematical exposition of design axioms is also provided. The main body of the book, which represents a concentrated treatment of several applications, is divided into three parts covering work on: complex products; buildings; and manufacturing systems. The book shows how design work in these areas can benefit from the scientific and systematic underpinning provided by Axiomatic Design, and in so doing effectively combines the state of the art in design research with practice. All contributions were written by an international group of leading proponents of Axiomatic Design. The book concludes with a call to action motivating further research into the engineering design of large complex systems.

The two volumes IFIP AICT 397 and 398 constitute the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the International IFIP WG 5.7 Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems, APMS 2012, held in Rhodes, Greece, in September 2012. The 182 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the two volumes. They are organized in 6 parts: sustainability; design, manufacturing and production management; human factors, learning and innovation; ICT and emerging technologies in production management; product and asset lifecycle management; and services, supply chains and operations.

The theory of concurrent engineering is based on the concept that the different phases of a product lifecycle should be conducted concurrently and initiated as early as possible within the product creation process. Concurrent engineering is important in many industries, including automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, consumer goods and environmental engineering, as well as in the development of new services and service support. This book presents the proceedings of the 21st ISPE Inc. International Conference on Concurrent Engineering, held at Beijing Jiaotong University, China, in September 2014. It is the first volume of a new book series: 'Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering'. The title of the CE2014 conference is: 'Moving Integrated Product Development to Service Clouds in the Global Economy', which reflects the variety of processes and methods which influence modern product creation. After an initial first section presenting the keynote papers, the remainder of the book is divided into 11 further sections with peer-reviewed papers: product lifecycle management (PLM); knowledge-based engineering (KBE); cloud approaches; 3-D printing applications; design methods; educational methods and achievements; simulation of complex systems; systems engineering; services as innovation and science; sustainability; and recent research on open innovation in concurrent engineering. The book will be of interest to CE researchers, practitioners from industry and public bodies, and educators alike.