The Competitive Edge

Research Priorities for U.S. Manufacturing

Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 9780309047845
eISBN Pdf: 9780309556132
Place of publication: United States
Year of digital publication: 1991
Month: January
Pages: 185
Language: English

Caption

To maintain competitiveness in the emerging global economy, U.S. manufacturing must rise to new standards of product quality, responsiveness to customers, and process flexibility. This volume presents a concise and well-organized analysis of new research directions to achieve these goals.

Five critical areas receive in-depth analysis of present practices, needed improvement, and research priorities:

Advanced engineered materials that offer the prospect of better life-cycle performance and other gains.
Equipment reliability and maintenance practices for better returns on capital investment.
Rapid product realization techniques to speed delivery to the marketplace.
Intelligent manufacturing control for improved reliability and greater precision.
Building a workforce with the multidisciplinary skills needed for competitiveness.

This sound and accessible analysis will be useful to manufacturing engineers and researchers, business executives, and economic and policy analysts.

The Competitive Edge
Copyright
Preface
Contents
Executive Summary
1 Overview
- CHANGING GROUND RULES OF MANUFACTURING COMPETITIVENESS
- A THREE-PRONGED THEORETICAL BASIS
  - Information
  - Integration
  - Intelligence
- BARRIERS TO COMPETITIVENESS
  - Inflexible Organizations
  - Inadequate Technology Base
  - Inappropriate Performance Measures
  - Lack of Career Esteem
- STEPS FOR CHANGING
- FINDINGS OF THE PANELS
  - Intelligent Manufacturing Control
  - Equipment Reliability and Maintenance
  - Advanced Engineered Materials
  - Product Realization Process
  - Manufacturing Skills Improvement
- VISION
- NOTES
2 Intelligent Manufacturing Control
- IMPORTANCE
- VISION
- PRESENT AND FUTURE PRACTICE
  - Manufacturing Assumptions
  - An Architecture for IMC—the World Model
    - Integration
    - Control
    - Intelligence
  - Case Studies
    - IMC in the Wire-Drawing Industry
    - IMC in the Chemicals Industry—Five Years from Today
- PRIORITIZED RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS
- MECHANISMS FOR DIFFUSION AND IMPLEMENTATION
- NOTES
3 Equipment Reliability and Maintenance
- IMPORTANCE
- PRESENT PRACTICE
  - U.S./Japanese Automobile Part Stamping
  - Near Defect-Free Pump Production
  - Diagnostic Monitoring of Steam Turbine Generators
  - ERM in the U.S. Semiconductor Industry
- VISION
- BARRIERS TO PROGRESS
  - Lack of Awareness
  - Lack of Data
  - Lack of Skills
- RESEARCH NEEDS
  - People-Related Needs
  - Equipment-Related Needs
    - Performance measurement
    - Tools and techniques
    - Methodologies
  - Summary
- NOTES
4 Manufacturing of and with Advanced Engineered Materials
- STATE OF THE ART
  - Materials Processing and Manufacturing
    - Polymer-Based Composites
    - Metal-Matrix Composites
  - Educational Infrastructure
- VISION
- CHALLENGES
  - Process Simulation and Modeling
  - Knowledge-Based Systems
  - Sensors
  - Technical Cost Modeling
- RESEARCH NEEDS
  - Materials
  - Integration
  - Education and Training
  - Research Guidelines
- NOTE
5 Product Realization Process
- Customers
  - Technology
  - Organization
  - Conclusions
- IMPORTANCE
- VISION
- PRESENT PRACTICE
  - Advanced Technology Development
    - Definition
    - Present practice
    - Vision
  - Conceptual Design
    - Definition
    - Present Practice
    - Vision
  - Development of Product Quality
    - Definition
    - Present Practice
    - Vision
  - Detailed Product Design Process
    - Definition
    - Present Practice
    - Vision
  - Production Capacity Development
    - Definition
    - Present Practice
    - Vision
  - Production
    - Definition
    - Present Practice
    - Vision
  - Distribution and Marketing
    - Definition
    - Present Practice
    - Vision
  - Life-Cycle Support
  - End-to-End Infrastructure Processes
  - Cross-Cutting Issues
- RESEARCH NEEDS
  - Intelligent Images
  - Linkages and Relationships
  - Organizational Framework
  - Summary
- NOTE
6 Manufacturing Skills Improvement
- IMPORTANCE
- BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES
- RESEARCH NEEDS AND GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS
  - Priority One: Collaborative Education in Manufacturing Skills
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
    - Comment
  - Priority Two: Educational Level—Faculty
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
    - Comment
  - Priority Three: Education of Managers
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
  - Priority Four: Establishment of Education and Training Consortia
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
    - Comment
  - Priority Five: Educational Level—Paraprofessional (Two-year Colleges/Vocational Schools)
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
  - Conceptual Thinking
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
  - Cooperative Behavior
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
  - Effective and Efficient Teaching Methods
    - Rationale
    - Recommendation
  - Educational Level—Bachelor's Degree
    - Recommendation
  - Educational Level—Through High School
    - Recommendation
  - Summary
- NOTES
Bibliography
Appendix A Selected Employment Data
Appendix B Panels of the Committee on Analysis of Research Directions and Needs in U.S. Manufacturing
- PANEL ON INTELLIGENT MANUFACTURING CONTROL
  - Liaisons to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
- PANEL ON EQUIPMENT RELIABILITY AND MAINTENANCE
  - Liaisons to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
- PANEL ON MANUFACTURING OF AND WITH ADVANCED ENGINEERED MATERIALS
  - Liaison to the Department of Defense
  - Liaison to the Committee
  - Liaisons to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
- PANEL ON RAPID PRODUCT REALIZATION PROCESS
  - Liaison to the Committee
  - Liaisons to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
- PANEL ON MANUFACTURING SKILLS IMPROVEMENT
  - Liaisons to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
- PANEL ON ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTS IN MANUFACTURING
  - Liaison to the Industrial Technology Institute
  - Liaisons to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
Index

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Research Priorities for U.S. Manufacturing

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