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OCR for page 216
Manufacturing Systems Research
in the United States:
An Overview
Executive Summary
Widespread agreement denotes that most manufacturing in-
dustries in the United States are in poor condition compared
to their strongest international competitors. Many U.S. manu-
facturers suffer from growing cost and quality disadvantages in
national and international markets. To a certain extent, these
problems derive from international economic conditions outside
the scope of this report. Nevertheless, this panel believes that
large improvements in U.S. manufacturing competitiveness can
be achieved through an increased awareness of the full scope and
growing importance of manufacturing in the modern era, along
with larger investments in related research and advanced educa-
tion.
Major elements of modern production systems are people, ma-
chines, computers, and the communication links among them. An
integrated systems engineering approach is essential to maximize
product quality, production efficiency, and flexibility in future
factories. Research is needed to provide better integration and
compatibility of hardware, software, and people operating in the
system. Related areas in which research is needed to support the
goal of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) include mod-
eling, simulation, control systems, and communication networks.
In addition, more research is needed on certain unit processes in
216
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
217
manufacturing, particularly various materials-forming processes
and closed-Ioop process control.
In the past, government-supported research on manufactur-
ing systems has been only a minor contributor to progress in this
field. Recent federal initiatives via the National Science Founda-
tion (NSF), including the establishment of two major Engineering
Research Centers on aspects of manufacturing, are highly positive
steps. We recommend that research on manufacturing systems be
further strengthened through the establishment of one or more
multilateral research consortia by industry, perhaps within the
range defined by the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SCR)
and the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation
(MCC). We expect to see research participation by universities,
but do not anticipate major federal support for any such consor-
tium.
The flow of new talent out of the U.S. educational system
and into manufacturing is inadequate both quantitatively and
qualitatively. Although changes are under way at U.S. universities
and within U.S. companies that could remedy this situation, a
real gap in orientation and educational quality still exists between
typical product development engineers and their counterparts in
manufacturing. Furthermore, most manufacturing engineers now
in practice, and even many new graduates, are ill-prepared to
address electively the difficult problems to be faced on the path
to true CIM systems. These weaknesses are barriers to the goal of
achieving engineering integration throughout the manufacturing
process from product concept through successful production. We
recommend several specific actions to improve U.S. research and
education in manufacturing engineering. These recommendations,
set forth at the end of the report, address issues of education,
technical standards, and professional engineering activity.
Introduction and Backgrolln~
Discrete-product manufacturing in the modern sense of the
term began with the industrial revolution.* For most of its first
*This report focuses on discrete-product manufacturing, as distinct from
continuous-flow processing, such as petroleum refining.
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING }SEARCH
100 years, such manufacturing was not critically dependent on ad-
vanced scientific and engineering knowledge. Fundamental limits
on materials and processes were seldom pressed. Often, materi-
als and energy were used wastefully, and there was little concern
with environmental effects. Manufacturing commonly comprised
a sequence of unit processes through which material passed with
very little accompanying flow of data. Engineers and workers un-
derstood their objectives largely in empirical terms, and managers
usually were qualified more through experience than on the basis
of scientific or engineering knowledge.
Over the past 20 years, most of those circumstances have
changed. Since the advent of the digital computer as a tool of
industry, manufacturing has become more information-intensive.
The concept of factories as integrated systems under electronic
control has emerged. The possibilities for flexible (programmable)
automation and for real-time optimization have become clear.
Great potential benefits are evident in product quality and cost,
production efficiency, flexible response to changing needs, and
improved health and safety conditions.
Many forces are at work to make manufacturing systems more
complex in the future. Systems must be adaptable to product
evolution. Such systems must also be capable of making the wide
variety of products and variations that the customer demands, and
of using the variety of raw materials available. Today the goal is
integrated manufacturing systems that encompass the full scope
of production activities from design through fabrication, assembly,
testing, and delivery.
This goal is not being met either rapidly enough or effectively
enough by U.S. manufacturing industries. Although the basic cir-
cumstances of manufacturing—the technology and the economic
environment have changed worldwide, U.S. manufacturing in-
dustries are finding it difficult to adapt to those changes. In many
engineering fields (e.g., computers, aerospace design, communica-
tions), U.S. industry is noted for effective application of modern
scientific and engineering knowledge. Unfortunately, this Is not
true in manufacturing. Nowhere near the full benefits of modern
technology and knowledge have been realized in the U.S. man-
ufacturing environment. In important product areas (e.g., steel,
automobiles, consumer electronics), foreign competitors are the
OCR for page 219
MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
219
leaders in developing and exploiting advanced manufacturing ca-
pabilities.* Among the reasons for the United States' deficiency
in this area are current policies and practices of industry, govern-
ment, and universities.
This deficiency cannot be sustained. Manufacturing is highly
significant for the nation's welfare. The U.S. manufacturing in-
dustry generates approximately 24 percent of the gross national
product and about 65 percent of the tangible goods produced. The
nation is unlikely to achieve full employment without a strong, in-
ternationally competitive manufacturing capability. Steadily im-
proving productivity in the manufacturing sector is essential to
our national economic well-being. Furthermore, public expecta-
tions for environmental quality can be achieved only by applying
sophisticated controls to manufacturing plants.
This panel has evaluated the overall direction and strength
of engineering research and educational programs that bear on
U.S. capabilities in manufacturing. In this report we suggest im-
provements for existing programs and propose some new research-
related activities involving industry, universities, and government.
We also recommend actions intended to upgrade the practice and
profession of manufacturing generally. Although there may not be
complete agreement with some of the proposals made by the pane!
to strengthen the nation's industrial competitiveness, we have en-
countered widespread support for the need for more high-quaTity
research and teaching in manufacturing in order to achieve this
goal. Our proposals are intended to produce that result.
Research and education are inherently Tong-term activities.
The panel has not attempted to describe the important shorter
range planning, development, and implementation activities that
must be undertaken by manufacturers seeking to improve their
competitive position.
The Manufacturing Research Agenda
The pane} believes that there are major deficiencies in research
aimed at manufacturing technology. The underlying knowledge
*See, for example, all of the reports listed in the Bibliography under the
National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, and Office of
Technology Assessment.
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
base is still quite limited and highly empirical. Furthermore, the
flow of knowledge from research to application needs strengthen-
ing. Reasons for these national deficiencies are described in later
sections of this report; most can be traced to limitations in the
training and education of personnel. In this section we address
some examples of critical areas of manufacturing research. We
found it useful to classify manufacturing technology in three cate-
gories, each of which needs increased research support.
SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
Systems integration is the most critical area. Basic under-
standing in this area falls far short of meeting the need for sys-
tematic, generic approaches to the design of CIM systems. Major
programs of interdisciplinary research are needed to provide better
engineering methods for systems integration.
Manufacturing systems are complex, and enormous volumes
of data are required to describe and control them. In traditional
factories the "data" used are embedded in the (fixed and variable)
configurations of the machines, in drawings and other documents,
and in the minds of the human operators. Data translations among
these elements of manufacturing systems have been performed by
humans, with corresponding limitations on the maximum amount
of data and the speed and accuracy of its manipulation. Although
some excellent manufacturing systems do not make intensive use of
computers, these systems usually depend on long-term continuity
and excellence of (human) engineering support. As manufactur-
ing processes and end products become more complex, and as
demands for flexibility increase, it is clear that computers will
be an increasingly necessary element of integrated manufactur-
ing systems. The term computer-integrated manufacturing implies
that all relevant data are available throughout a network of com-
puters, so that they can be used as needed to achieve desired
overall results for the complete production system. Improvements
in product quality, manufacturing flexibility and efficiency, and
human productivity will be achieved through more intensive use
of information. Figure 1 illustrates the scope of CIM.
The benefits of CIM have already been amply demonstrated.
Portions of this technology have been installed in several factories
in this country ant] abroad, and have produced reductions in:
tooling costs, parts inventories, control and scheduling problems,
OCR for page 221
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222
DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
materials handling requirements, start-up and rework, engineering
changes, defective work, and unit costs; along with improvements
in: manufacturability, utilization, throughput, and quality.
CIM has proven difficult to implement. One reason is in-
compatibilities among data formats, hardware, and software of
computers and production equipment made by different vendors.
Generally, suppliers have tended to develop unique proprietary
data formats, hardware, and software in order to induce customers
to purchase all components from one source or to offer selective
performance advantages.
Integration of the people and technologies of CIM is one of
the most important (yet most difficult to plan and manage) as-
pects of automation. This problem extends from the factory floor
through engineering, design, purchasing, marketing, finance, and
management. Needed research in this area must involve a vari-
ety of engineering and nonengineering specialists. A system-level
approach must be taken in designing elements of CIM. Research
should be aimed at providing new hardware and software that
is modular, compatible with other systems, adaptable to new re-
quirements, and easily understood by the people who will use
it.
The goal of CIM is to improve productivity and quality in pros
auction. Even when CIM is achieved, formal optimization (in the
mathematical sense) of a complete production process probably
will not be practical because of the large number of variables and
many nonlinear, dynamic, and stochastic relationships. However,
engineering strategies based on breaking down complex systems
into hierarchies of simpler components have the potential to be
practical and helpful. The hierarchy for manufacturing likely will
consist of models and controls at several levels for example, the
individual machine level, the multimachine process cell level, the
factory level, and the multiplant level.
A long-term goal is to develop the techniques of artificial in-
telligence to provide computer-based capabilities such as inference
and intuition hi ways that can be applied to manufacturing. Such
developments would be of great value in achieving full automation
and in optimizing the production process, and might also be ex-
ploited in training humans for their roles in design and production.
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
223
MODELING, SIMULATION, CONTROL, NETWORKS
Important areas still exist in which available models of materi-
als, physical objects, and manufacturing processes are inadequate
for the needs of CIM. Modeling of products, fully describing their
geometric and other characteristics and functions, is a prerequisite
for manufacturing systems integration. Current models for solid
objects do not provide unambiguous geometric information, and
they provide almost no information on nongeometric characteris-
tics and functions.
Research is needed to Seine structured computer data bases
for product modeling. Computer-aided design should generate the
original data base for a desired product. The goal is to auto-
matically derive, define, and verify the complete data base for
planning, controlling, and implementing production and testing of
a product directly from this data base. Expert systems techniques
may be useful in resolving difficulties encountered in this process.
Another long-term goal is to provide computer-aided design sys-
tems with automatic feedback of information about the production
implications of design decisions. (This link is labeled "Cost and
Capabilities" in Figure 1.) Such a capability has a strong potential
for improving product producibility and quality and for reducing
costs.
Continuing research is needed on computer modem for manu-
facluring processes. Although some processes are quite well mod-
eled today, in other cases existing models are inadequate to predict
the sensitivity of final results to process variables. Models includ-
ing dynamics are needed to understand and control such effects as
too! chatter in metal cutting and precision pattern alignment in
microelectronics.
Computer simulation techniques are still evolving rapidly,
driven by advances in hardware, simulation software, and process
models. High-quality graphics provided with relatively inexpen-
sive workstations surely will be widely exploited. Such develop-
ments are being integrated into engineering curricula; graduates
with simulation and graphics experience will be eager to exploit
these tools.
Robotics and programmable automation have attracted the at-
tention of many researchers interested in manufacturing automa-
tion. Both anthropomorphic robots, which are humanTike in some
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
respects, and nonanthropomorphic robots are important. Physi-
cal and mechanical needs include improved sensors and actuators,
such as tactile sensors and grippers with closed-Ioop control of grip-
ping force. Computational and algorithmic problems in robotics,
such as image processing, collision avoidance in a changing en-
vironment, and response to fault conditions also need intensive
research. Product designs and material and information flows
in manufacturing will need major changes to optirn~ze the use
of robotic and other flexible automation techniques. Research is
needed to establish principles or engineering guidelines that can
help determine the optimum degree of flexibility for a manufac-
turing system.
The man-machine interface must be greatly improved so that
people involved in manufacturing can work effectively with vast
information flows. Better understanding of human information
processing is needed so that the essential information flow be-
tween people and machines is speeded up. Interactions must be
improved by properly exploiting visual displays in color. Rapid
access to large data bases is also needed. For example, production
scheduling could be enhanced by computationally quick, dynamic
network queueing models, with output at any design point pro-
vided via graphic animation. Expert systems techniques may well
be helpful in support of interactive decision making; these tech-
niques could embody practical knowledge and experience as well
as strictly technical data and functions. Such techniques are nec-
essary because future flexible manufacturing systems will be too
complex for every eventuality to be deterministically programmed.
Multiprocessor computer system architectures for real-time
control require further research. The data complexity, compu-
tational loads, and system reliability requirements of future CIM
can be met only with multiprocessor systems. Today, most large
real-time computer systems (e.g., those for airline reservations and
telephone exchange control) are narrowly optimized to a lirn~ted
set of functions. Future CIM systems will have diverse informa-
tion flow and real-time response requirements. Computational
functions likely will be organized in a hierarchy, and must permit
growth to virtually unlimited size, capacity, and reliability. Surely
there will be redundancy in both hardware and software.
Communication networks for the production environment are
evolving rapidly. Simple, reliable, economical techniques are
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
225
needed to link diverse systems for design, planning, fabrication, as-
sembly, inspection, and testing. The Manufacturing Automation
Protocol adopted by General Motors and many other manufactur-
ers is a worthwhile step toward standardization in this area.
UNIT PROCESSES
Research on the individual unit processes that are combined
to make up a complete manufacturing sequence has progressed
well in many industries. Innovative improvements in materials
and unit processes frequently result from the efforts of workers
and the engineers who work closely with them.
Examples of fields in which more research is needed include
processes for forming composite material, net shape forming
through precision forging and powder metallurgy, superplastic form-
ing and diffusion bonding, direct forming of rapidly solidifying ma-
teria~, hot isostatic processing, and evaporative pattern coating.
More work is needed for many materials and products to provide
an understanding of and models for the relationships among struc-
ture, processing, and final properties. In-line instrumentation and
control of many unit processes can also be greatly improved.
Real-time ctosed-toop process control is becoming more feasi-
ble and attractive. The CIM environment makes it possible to
adopt processing techniques that are more data-intensive than
those commonly used in the past. Thus, in microelectronics man-
ufacturing we see the replacement of open-Ioop processes such
as wet chemical etching and thermal oxidation with closed-Ioop,
electrically controlled processes such as plasma etching, plasma
oxidation and anodization, sputtering, and ion milling.
Issues that Deternune the Health of
Manufacturing Systems Research
The previous section described some key system and process
technologies that must be a part of CIM. Beyond the forces of
technological change are new pressures from corporate manage-
ments and from society at large. These new demands stem from
increased worldwide competition, higher standards for product
quality, concern for environmental effects, and increased demand
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
for customized products. Generally, product life cycles are short-
ening, leading to shorter planning time, higher ratios of fixed to
variable costs, and smaller ratios of selling price to cost. For these
reasons, manufacturing has become a larger factor in the strategic
health of most businesses and of the national economy as a whole.
Manufacturing is changing from the low-risk periphery to the
high-risk center stage; from the domain of the unskilled to that of
the highly skilled; and from an arena in which skills were learned
on the job to one in which advanced formal education is necessary.
In the past, many manufacturing processes and products could
be understood and evaluated with the unaided human senses;
more and more frequently this is impossible. Any assessment of
the health of manufacturing research and practice must begin
with a recognition of these changes. U.S. manufacturers today
are critically short of people who can perform well in the new
environment.
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT OF MANUFACTURING
SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Government-supported research on manufacturing systems is
only a small fraction of overall public expenditures for engineering
research; in turn, engineering research allocations are only a small
component of total federal research expenditures. Federal funding
under the heading of Programmable Automation" totaled about
$82 million in FY84, with more than three-fourths of this money
directed toward military programs. The relatively low level of
federal research support is one of several serious problems faced
by the field of manufacturing systems.
Most programs funded by the Department of Defense (DOD)
focus on deliverable space and defense technology and as such have
relatively short-term orientations. Although these programs are
an important too! for cost and quality control in defense systems,
they do not and cannot be expected to address the main problems
of high-volume commercial manufacturing.
Civilian agency programs include those of the National Bu-
reau of Standards (NBS), the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), and the NSF. The research program of
the Center for Manufacturing Engineering at the NBS has the
aim of developing soundly based standards for integrating het-
erogeneous hardware and software in manufacturing systems. It
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
largely on ad hoc empirical methods rather than on a systematic
foundation of scientific and engineering principles. To be sure, the
empirical knowledge base is important, as it consists of rules dis-
covered through long interaction with materials, processes, tools,
people, and systems. This "rule-based~ practical knowledge must
not be overlooked as fundamental principles are developed and
applied.
The educational level is traditionally low in manufacturing.
The field has little status in the engineering community; new
college graduates avoid manufacturing positions. Manufacturing
managers frequently are craftsmen promoted up from the shop
floor. Formal education has been less necessary for advancement in
factory management than in other parts of most companies. Man-
agers from such backgrounds must work hard to lead the needed
transition to a computer-based systems approach to manufactur-
ing. Many more well-educated process specialists and computer
engineers will be needed to design and operate the factories of the
future.
Manufacturing engineers have limited opportunity to build! on
the prior work of others. Product development engineers have the
opportunity to study the best competing automobiles or comput-
ers. Manufacturing engineers have much more difficulty studying
their competitors' best factories. Understandably, managements
often restrict the flow of information concerning proprietary man-
ufacturing methods. As a consequence, manufacturing techniques
often vary considerably among firms producing similar end prod-
ucts, and there is no arena in which the merits of alternative
techniques may be subjected to detailed comparisons.
Manufacturing engineering lacks centers of focused research
activity akin to the research laboratories of major firms in the com-
munications, computer, and chemical industries, and the national
centers for research in high-energy physics and materials science.
Detailed reporting of the best work via professional conferences
and high-quality archival publications has only recently begun. In
light of all the abovementioned circumstances, it is easy to under-
stand why research on manufacturing is limited in quantity, badly
fragmented, and duplicative. Urgently needed generic materials
handling and fabrication techniques, flexible manufacturing tools,
and information systems standards are appearing much too slowly
under the present circumstances.
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
229
costs of labor and capital have for many years been higher
for U.S. manufacturers than for their strongest international com-
petitors. Some well-known attempts at factory automation in the
United States failed because of inadequate flexibility in accommo-
dating to changes in processes and products. Further, there has
been a continuous shortage of engineers qualified to face the chal-
lenges implied by computer-integratec] factory automation. These
facts have influenced many U.S. manufacturers, particularly in
fast-changing fields such as electronics, to choose labor-intensive
manufacturing in low-wage areas of the world over automated
manufacturing in the United States. Such strategies may well
maximize the short-run return on investment. However, they de-
flect management's attention from the R&D efforts required to
implement modern automated factories for long-term competitive-
ness. Implementation of systems such as CIM demands long-term
management support. Success in such efforts will require that
managers resist the pressure to achieve short-term returns, and
that they become personally committed to making the integration
process work.
Universities have difficulty mounting interdisciplinary efforts
needed in manufacturing systems research. Engineering at uni-
versities took a strong turn toward quantitative, science-based
instruction and research in the 1960s. Research projects have
tended to focus on narrow specialty areas in which significant
progress might be achieved with the limited resources available
to engineering faculty members. Promotions are awarded on the
basis of individual achievement; team research (as ~ needed for
interdisciplinary fields) has been risky for faculty careers. This
problem can be overcome if university administrators devote addi-
tional effort to the evaluation of individual contributions to large
group efforts. Such differential assessments are routinely made
with success in good industrial research laboratories. Credit must
be given to all involved when "the whole is greater than the sum
of its parts."
Manufacturing plants are very expensive to build and very
complicated to operate. Small plants cost many millions of dollars
and large plants cost many billions. To do meaningful research
on the whole manufacturing system requires access to such an
operating system, which at this writing can be found only in
industry. Thus, university-industry cooperation is vital for the
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
conduct of broad-based, interdisciplinary research relevant to the
needs of U.S. manufacturing.
FORMATION OF RESEARCH CONSORTIA:
A HIGH-PRIORITY NEED
The United States needs sharply increased R&D activity to
speed progress in manufacturing systems engineering. A major
objective should be to accelerate the effective application of com-
puter technology in order to improve the productivity of U.S.
manufacturing and the quality of its output.
To achieve this accelerated progress, we believe it is crucial that
manufacturers take the initiative in stimulating the formation and
strengthening of consortia for research on manufacturing systems.
Participants in any such consortium should include numerous in-
dustrial firms, and may in addition include universities and federal
or state governments. One such consortium is Computer Aided
Manufacturing International (CAM-~), based in Arlington, Texas.
CAM-T has 150 member companies, but has not been supported
at a level adequate to meet all the needs in this field. Examples of
strong consortia in other fields are the SRC and the MCC, both
of which were formed within the past 3 years. The initiatives for
MCC and SRC came from the top management of major corpora-
tions in the relevant industries. Actions by Congress and the Jus-
tice Department have removed antitrust barriers to the operation
of SRC and MCC. SRC supports research and graduate education
at universities, with an annual budget of about $20 million. MCC
conducts research programs primarily with its own facilities and
staff, joined by staff members from participating companies. Its
annual budget is about $50 million. The activities of SRC and
MCC are complementary, and a number of firms belong to both.
Assessment of the Adequacy of New [blent
The flow of new engineering talent from the U.S. educational
system into manufacturing is inadequate. In reaching this conclu-
sion, the Pane! on Manufacturing Systems Research has had access
to survey questionnaires; information from universities, technical
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
231
societies, and other sources such as the Presidential Young Inves-
tigators; and comments from several major corporations. Each
input points to shortages of trained American manpower and,
depending on the sector, some particular needs.
Understandably, because no one sector deals with an overall
problem, no one respondent offers overall solutions; all of them
quite properly address specific inadequacies with respect to their
own needs. The pane! was able to find no positive opinions to
offset the prevailing view that there is a shortage of manufacturing
· —
engineering manpower.
The pane! believes that the engineering capability of the U.S.
manufacturing sector started to slip in the late 1960s. The universi-
ties' output of manufacturing engineers was declining and industry
continued to fill key positions with personnel Who know machin-
ery," such as skilled tradesman. Graduates of 2- and Year insti-
tutes of technology provided another attractive option. This led to
gaps in position, salary grade, and professional status (obviously
coupled to educational level), and eventually to a cultural di~er-
ence between degreed engineers who work on product-related items
and the few who work in the processes of manufacturing. This gap
is real and fundamental to the problem of carrying through total
engineering programs, spanning the range from product concept
through successful manufacturing.
Up-and-down economic cycles and a general focus on short-
term corporate financial performance have stifled many attempts
at change. There are indications, however, that industrial corpo-
rations have now awakened, as evidenced by:
.
new company-sponsored ways to upgrade engineering per-
sonne} in manufacturing by additional training and rewards;
. attempts by companies to build manufacturing and engi-
neering teams to span the gap between product development and
process design; and
~ growing interactions between industry and acadern~a to
influence curricula, to foster cooperative work-study arrangements
as a part of degree programs, and to support and cooperate in
teaching and research.
At the same time, universities have been trying to change
on their own over the last 12 years, spurred perhaps partly by
need, but also by the realization that there is indeed a manu-
factur~ng systems discipline. However, there are at present only
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
three programs offering degrees in manufacturing engineering that
are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and
Technology. Others are hidden under different names or folded
into more traditional engineering areas like mechanical engineer-
ing. Our feeling is that such nonspecific efforts will not achieve the
gains realized in Japan or working in Europe. We applaud these
present efforts, but conclude that they should be more specifically
supported.
Recommendations
The pane] believes that a strong, internationally competitive
manufacturing component is essential to U.S. domestic and inter-
national strength. We also believe that there is now a consensus of
opinion in industry, government, and universities favoring sharply
stepped-up research and education on manufacturing.
Thus, our highest-priority recommendation is that:
. Leaders of large U.S. manufacturers should take the initia-
tive in stimulating the formation and strengthening of consortia
for research on manufacturing systems. Participants in any such
consortium should include numerous industrial firms, and may in
addition include universities and federal or state governments.
We also recommend vigorous actions as follows to improve
professional standards in manufacturing engineering:
. More specialist workshops, larger and better supported
conferences, more refereed professional-level publications, and
strong management support for the participation of its engineers
in these~activities are needed to place manufacturing engineering
more nearly on par with the strongest engineering fields. Academic
and industrial leaders must work together through professional so-
cieties to achieve these goals.
. The newly established program of Engineering Research
Centers, fostered by an initiative of the NSF, provides an excel-
lent vehicle for university-industry collaboration in research and
teaching on manufacturing. Sustained personal and corporate
commitments will be essential to the success of these centers.
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
233
. The 1984 IBM initiative to upgrade university programs on
manufacturing engineering is an example of a highly constructive
unilateral corporate initiative. We urge other firms to consider
simian initiatives in their fields of interest.
The dearth of technical standards for mechanical and elec-
trical interfaces and for data transfer has been a severe impediment
to progress in manufacturing systems engineering. The General
Motors Manufacturing Automation Protocol is a standard now
endorsed by many; it must be recognized as an important step
forward. For the long term, standards should be established with
leadership from professional groups and governments as well as
from individual firms.
The following actions should be taken by universities and
their industrial supporters to improve the state of manufacturing
engineering education:
. Continued support should be developed and planned for
university programs that specialize in coupled manufacturing ed-
ucation and research.
. Programs shouIc] be defined in which the student can gain
a more realistic appreciation of manufacturing applications and
the manufacturing systems disciplines. Cooperative work-study
programs for engineering students are one good example.
. Centers for Manufacturing Excellence should be estate
fished to deal with unit processes such as welding, casting, and flex-
ible machining, and with computer-integration techniques. These
centers could be established via mechanisms that encourage the
state governments (financially) to engage local university-industry
tearns, such as in the Industrial Technology Institute program in
Michigan.
. Faculty development programs should be established con-
sisting of (reciprocal) personnel exchanges, joint proposals, doc-
toral fellowships, grants for research initiation, and Ph.D. thesis
projects. A good example of an effort that has evolved over a
period of 5 or 6 years into a program like this can be seen at
the University of Wisconsin, where an M.S. degree in Manufac-
turing Systems Engineering has been established. (This program
was stimulated by a grant from IBM.) The University of Wiscon-
sin's program is a successful mode! that might well be replicated
elsewhere.
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
. A professional group should be developed that would estab-
lish prestigious awards for contributions in manufacturing, provide
matching funds for possible faculty winners of Presidential Young
Investigator Awards, and provide seed money awards for course
and case study development in manufacturing systems.
~ Industrial support should be encouraged for university re-
search and graduate education on manufacturing by establishing
additional state and federal government programs, such as Califor-
nia's MICRO (Microelectronics and Computer Research Opportu-
nities) program. California's program provides for state matching
of private grants to universities in support of research agreed to
by faculty and counterpart researchers in industry.
~ An effort should be initiated to develop modern, high-
quality text material suitable for undergraduate engineering in-
struction on manufacturing systems integration. Today such texts
are in critically short supply. A parallel situation existed in 1960
with respect to transistor electronics. At that time the Ford Foun-
dation and the NSF established and funded the Semiconductor
Electronics Education Committee. This group wrote a set of short,
high-quality teaching texts that filled this critical need. A similar
initiative is needed now to modernize manufacturing engineering
curricula.
We believe there are enough forward-thinking members in
the American university system that an almost endless list of
suggestions like the foregoing could be generated. It would make
sense to propose such actions only if the academic community
could be certain that someone would listen and act on them.
Increased support of university program by state and federal
governments would certainly be applauded, and might weD be
matched, by the industrial sector.
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
235
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
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MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
Appendix
Responses to the Engineering Research
Board's Request for Assistance Mom
Universities, Professional Societies, and
Federal Agencies and Laboratories
237
Requests for assistance were sent by the Engineering Research
Board to a number of universities, recipients of Presidential Young
Investigator Awards, professional societies, and federal agencies
and laboratories in order to obtain a broader view of engineering
research opportunities, research policy needs, and the health of
the research community. Some of the responses included com-
ments on engineering research aspects of manufacturing; these
were reviewed by this panel to aid in its decision-making process.
The pane] found the responses to be most helpful and wishes that
it were possible to individually thank all those who took the time
to make their views known. Because that is not practical, we
hope nevertheless that this small acknowledgment might convey
our gratitude.
Responses on aspects of manufacturing were received from in-
dividuals representing 45 different organizations, listed in Table A:
26 universities (including 9 represented by recipients of NSF Presi-
dential Young Investigator Awards), 10 professional organizations,
and 9 federal agencies or laboratories. Some comments covered
specific aspects of the panel's scope of activities, whereas others
provided input on a variety of subjects.
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DIRECTIONS IN ENGINEERING RESEARCH
TABLE A-1 Organizations Responding to Information Requests Relevant to
Manufacturing Systems Research
UNIVERSITIES
Brigham Young University
Carnegie-Mellon University
Clarkson University
Drexel University
Duke University
Lehigh University
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
North Carolina State
University
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Purdue University
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute
Texas A&M University
University of Connecticut
University of California,
D avis
University of California,
Los Angeles
University of Illinois—Urbana/
Champaign
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
University of Maryland
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Oklahoma
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rochester
University of Utah
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics
American Institute of
Chemical Engineers
American Society of Civil
Engineers
American Society of
Mechanical Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers, Inc.
Institute of Industrial Engineers
Industrial Research Institute
Society of Engineering
Science, Inc.
Society of Manufacturing
Engineers
Society of Naval Architects
and Marine Engineers
AGENCIES AND LABORATORIES
Air Force Institute of
Technology
Air Force Office of Scientific
Research
Army Materials and
Mechanical Research Center
Army Research Office
Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA Langley Research Center
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Sandia National Laboratories
Representative terms from entire chapter:
manufacturing engineers
