Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems and Transformable Factories (Hardcover)

State of the Art.- Globalization and Decentralization of Manufacturing.- New Trends in Production.- General RMS Characteristics. Comparison with Dedicated and Flexible Systems.- Progress in Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems.- Agile Manufacturing Systems ? a Significant Quantum Leap for High Volume Production Approaches Flexibility Requirements as Well as Fastest Reaction to Market Demands.- Machines and Controls Forms.- Reconfigurable Manufacturing Equipment.- Reconfigurable Machine Tool Design.- Challenges in the Design of Reconfigurable Machine Tools.- Reconfigurable Fixtures for Automotive Engine Machining and Assembly Applications.- Control Systems for RMS and Methods of their Reconfiguration.- Closed-loop, Fieldbus-based Clock Synchronisation for Decentralised Control Systems.- System-Level Issues In RMS.- Production System Modelling for the Evaluation of the Degree of Reconfigurability.- The Robot Cell as a Re-configurable Machining System.- Development of a Standard Reconfigurable Assembly Cell for Agile Manufacturing.- Computer Supported Decision Making System that Generates and Optimizes Layouts of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Equipment at the Early Stage of Design.- Reconfigurable Machining System (RMS) for Machining of Case and Similar Parts in Machine Building.- Cellular Manufacturing System Capable of Responding to Changes in Demand.- Example of Reconfigurable Manufacturing System in Mold Design and Manufacturing.- Transformable Factory Structures.- Factory Transformability: Adapting the Structures of Manufacturing.- The Transformable Factory ? Strategies, Methods and Examples.- Analysis of Modern Factory Structures and Their Transformability.- Innovative Logistics is a Vital Part of Transformable Factories in the Automotive Industry.- Product and Process Optimization for Reconfigurable Manufacturing.- Products Design and Analysis for Transformable Production and Reconfigurable Manufacturing.- Optimal Design of the Vehicle.- New Generation of Engines with Controlled Pistons Movement for Reconfigurable Manufactures.- Experience of Rapid Prototyping Technologies Usage for Moulding Case Parts.- Theory and Practice of Technology for Machining Non-Rigid Smooth Shafts in Reconfigurable Production.- Application of Non-Traditional Assembly Methods in Reconfigurable Manufacturing.- Laser Technologies.- Selecting an Optimal Production Order and Its Corresponding Configuration in a Reconfigurable Manufacturing System with Multiple Product Groups.- Economics of RMS.- Economical Models for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems.- Life Cycle Cost Calculation for Manufacturing Systems by Means of Reconfigurability Analysis.- An Analytical Comparison on Cost and Performance among DMS, AMS, FMS and RMS.- Real Options: an Application to RMS Investment Evaluation.- FUTURE TRENDS.- Future Scenarios, Describing Consistent Networks of Influences from Markets, Technologies and Business Environment with a Time Horizon of 2020.- Intelligent Systems, Self-optimizing Concepts and Structures.- Virtual Production ? Computer Model-Based Planning and Analyzing of Manufacturing Systems.