Advanced Manufacturing Industry Research Articles

The Missing Middle: Technicians, Innovation and Advanced Manufacturing

This essay explores the nature and causes of the so-called ‘missing middle’ (that is, the UK’s failure to train sufficient technicians or workers with intermediate-level skills). Evidence is drawn from studies of UK advanced manufacturing industries, in particular those seeking to innovate by deploying new technologies. The root cause of the problem lies in a 'system failure' - as that term is understood in the innovation systems literature - in the UK education and training system.

Status, Problems and Solutions Research of Innovative Ecosystem for Advanced Manufacturing Industry in Dongguan City

Being known as the “world factory”, Dongguan city is in a high speed development period. The city not only upgrading its manufacturing industry, meanwhile, it is building the international advanced manufacturing center, which is the implementation of the "Made in Dongguan 2025". So, with relying on a greater bay area of Guangdong-HongKong-Macao strategic platform of the country, deeply develop from a "manufacturing city" to a world-class advanced manufacturing center with innovative ecosystem in manufacturing.

Application of Artificial Intelligence Algorithm in Visual Guidance of Industrial Robot

With the rapid development of science and technology and manufacturing industry, the position of industrial robots in the advanced manufacturing industry is also improving, the application of industrial robots has been expanding. Visual guidance technology can help industrial robots to complete the production work with high flexibility and high intelligence, and promote the fine development of industrial robot technology. The purpose of this paper is to realize the good application of artificial intelligence algorithm in the visual guidance of industrial robots and promote the continuous improvement of its visual guidance system. This paper first discusses the concepts of artificial intelligence, industrial robots and visual guidance, then analyzes the specific application of artificial intelligence algorithm in visual guidance system based on Apriori algorithm, and detects the visual guidance system under artificial intelligence algorithm through simulation experiments. The experimental results show that the industrial robot vision system based on artificial intelligence algorithm in this paper has a great advantage in calibration accuracy and calibration time.

Modeling of interference microscopy beyond the linear regime

Coherence scanning interferometry (CSI), a type of interference microscopy, has found broad applications in the advanced manufacturing industry, providing high-accuracy surface topography measurement. Enhancement of the metrological capability of CSI for complex surfaces, such as those featuring high slopes and spatial frequencies and high aspect-ratio structures, requires advances in modeling of CSI. However, current linear CSI models relying on approximate surface scattering models cannot accurately predict the instrument response for surfaces with complex geometries that cause multiple scattering. A boundary elements method is used as a rigorous scattering model to calculate the scattered field at a distant boundary. Then, the CSI signal is calculated by considering the holographic recording and reconstruction of the scattered field. Through this approach, the optical response of a CSI system can be predicted for almost any arbitrary surface geometry.

Personalized work instruction system for revitalizing human-machine interaction

Diversification of the workforce and machinery has become a forefront issue in advanced manufacturing industries. To respond this challenge, it is necessary to create a sophisticated mechanism in which humans and machines can mutually assist and evolve together for sustainable growth. In this paper, for assembly cell production, we developed work instructions as exemplar “machine” that interact with workers, and analyzed the effect of this interaction on work efficiency. Based on the resulting statistical model, a system that provides personalized machine support for operators was prepared. Fundamental experiments are reported from an application to the assembly of simple mechanical products.

Multi-objective optimization of electrical discharge drilling (EDD) process using PCA based grey relational analysis

Low material removal rate (MRR) and formation of recast layer are major limitations of EDM which restrict large scale application of EDM in advanced manufacturing industries such as aerospace, defence, automobile, medical etc. Electrical Discharge Drilling (EDD) is a proficient machining process for machining of electrically conductive hard and tough materials. It is a combination of EDM and conventional drilling however in EDD process, tool and workpiece are not in mechanical contact as in case of conventional drilling process. The material is removed by melting and evaporation and at the same time tool rotation assists the process by improved flushing of debris particles from machining zone. In present work, holes of 2 mm diameter are machined in Ti-6Al-4V using EDD process. The experiments were performed on conventional EDM machine with a detachable in-house developed experimental setup for tool rotation. The experiments are designed using Taguchi’s L27 OA. Further, optimization of EDD process is performed using PCA based GRA method. The optimum values of process parameters for EDD of Ti-6Al-4V is obtained as IP = 21 Amp, TON = 90 µs, TOFF = 15 µs and tool rotation = 600 rpm. It is found that EDD at optimum parameters have resulted in about 30.64% increased MRR along with 16.57% greater TWR as compared to mean MRR and mean TWR at 21 Amp pulse current.

Case Study: A Systematic Review of the Most Effective Career Training Programs for a Workforce Board

A systematic review was conducted for a state-sponsored workforce board, a non-profit quasi-governmental workforce development organization located in the northeastern U.S., to determine what are the most effective career training programs in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, hospitality, and marine economy industries for job seekers in U.S. based organizations. The absorptive capacity theory was utilized in examining the research problem through a theoretical lens. The results indicated that on-the-job training (OJT) was found to be the most effective training technique across all the industries. Career advising was also considered a crucial element of career training within the healthcare, hospitality, and marine economy industries. Recommendations for the workforce board included revamping their current OJT program and connecting with career advisors at the local high schools. Industry-specific recommendations for the workforce board included providing academic support in healthcare, workforce flexibility in advanced manufacturing, multilingual training in hospitality, and exposure to oceanic concepts in academics for the marine economy.

Reproduction Forms of Sustainable Development Policy in Russia

The objective meaning of the sustainable development process in relation to the neo-industrialization of the economy is to create conditions for the restoration of the ecological identity of the national economy as a multi-industry production complex. We consider the neo-industrial development of the economy as the re-establishment of a competitive manufacturing complex in it, capable of saturating the domestic market avoiding increasing the burden on the environment with the innovative development of raw materials production, creating the material basis of national competitiveness in the environmental plan. From sustainable development point of view, neo-industrialization means conducting a comprehensive structural policy, the object of which should be national reproduction, and the subject is deep transformations of the processes that form the complex of human impact on nature, its institutional and technological structure, increasing the reproductive role of the green economy based on the potential of the internal market. At the same time, the history of greening industry, which dates back to the 1990s, testifies to the positive experience of replacing global production chains of raw materials, in particular, energy carriers, with the benefits of a fundamentally new type – alternative energy sources, biomaterials. Therefore, the development of technologically advanced manufacturing industry based on technologies of the green economy is possible as a result of the formation of production of goods and services that are maximally focused on meeting the environmental needs of society.

Fabrication of rigid polyimide foams via thermal foaming of nadimide-end-capped polyester-amine precursor

This work provides a method for fabricating rigid polyimide foams via thermal foaming method of nadimide-end-capped polyester-amine oligomer (NPEAO) precursor particles, which were synthesized by reaction of benzophenone-3,3′,4,4′-tetracarboxylic dianhydride and cis-5-norbornene-endo-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride (NA) with different diamines. The foaming mechanism of the rigid PI foams was systematically investigated. The experiment demonstrates that the pre-treatment of the NPEAO precursor particles and foaming temperature are two pivotal factors that determine the foaming processes. The densities of the prepared rigid PI foams are mainly in the range of 40–200 kg m−3. Moreover, the density and morphology of the PI foams can be effectively controlled by adjusting these two factors. Besides, the obtained rigid PI foams present excellent mechanical and thermal properties, specifically, the flexural and compressive strength reaches as high as to 1.42 MPa and 0.47 MPa, respectively, with the density of 0.076 g cm−3, which are superior to common PI foams and aerogels that of reported in the literature. Therefore, these superior mechanical and thermal properties make obtained rigid PI foams promising candidates as structural materials in the advanced manufacturing industry.

Analysis of and Theoretical Reflections on China’s “Excessive De-Industrialization” Phenomenon

Industrialization is a long-term process of spiral transformation and upgrading. In a broad sense, industrialization can be divided into two stages, i.e. shallow industrialization and deep industrialization. The first stage refers to a process of expansive industrialization aiming to increase the proportion of industry, while the second stage refers to a process of contractive industrialization centered on improvements in industrial quality and competitiveness, to which the shallow industrialization is transformed and upgraded. In fact, the industrialization stages divided according to traditional theories, i.e. early stage, middle stage and late stage, are only for achieving the goals of shallow industrialization, instead of ultimately completing the developmental tasks of industrial economy. The transforming and upgrading from shallow industrialization to deep industrialization is an essential stage for a major country to enhance its development quality and competitiveness of industrial economy. So far, China has not fully industrialized. In the context of unbalanced and inadequate industrial development, China has seen a rapid decline in the industrial value-added and employment proportions in recent years, prematurely showing the features of rapid excessive de-industrialization in all respects. China’s current excessive de-industrialization is not only attributed to the impulse of rushing into mass actions in industrial upgrading, but also resulting from the combined effects of multiple factors such as surging factor prices and overcapacity at the current stage, exerting serious negative impacts on China’s economic growth, productivity improvement, development of modern service industry and transfer of agricultural labor force. In a long period of time ahead, considering the need to improve the quality of industrialization and the relationship between industry and services, real economy and virtual economy, the industry dominated by advanced manufacturing industry is still China’s major impetus for driving the medium–high rate of sustained and stable economic growth. Advancing deep industrialization remains a long and arduous task. Therefore, it is required to get rid of the misunderstanding caused by traditional theories and thinking, reconsider the importance of industrialization, implement the strategy of deep industrialization and prevent excessive de-industrialization. The specific measures include: expedite the promotion of deep industrialization in the developed regions of Eastern China, build a group of advanced manufacturing bases in Central and Western China and facilitate an in-depth integrated development of advanced manufacturing industry and modern service industry.

Dynamic modeling and trajectory measurement on vibratory finishing

Vibratory finishing has been widely used in advanced manufacturing industry, such as aerospace, wind power equipment, and hydraulic equipment. Although the mechanism of vibratory surface finishing has been studied for decades, the fundamental issues of vibratory finishing such as the trajectories of media and workpiece during finishing are still not solved. In this study, a four-degree-of-freedom dynamic model is developed to analyze the dynamic responses of the vibratory finisher and validated by experimental tests. Coupled RecurDyn and EDEM technique is employed to simulate the trajectories of media and workpiece in a vibratory finisher. The simulation results are validated by X-ray experimental tests. Both the simulation and X-ray images show that the global trajectories of media and workpiece are a combination of three motions, circumferential motion around the center axis of the vibrating barrel, the radial elliptical motion around the center of rotation, and the self-flip movement. The trajectories of media exhibit an annular helix motion in the vibratory barrel in general. The shape, density, and weight of a workpiece and media have a significant effect on their global trajectory and local movements. The mechanism of vibratory surface finishing is better understood, which has great importance to the improvement of existing surface finishing processing technology and development of the next generation of vibratory mass finishing.

A new method to reliably determine elastic strain of various crystal structures from atomic-resolution images

Elastic strain engineering is an important strategy to design material properties in semiconductor and emerging advanced manufacturing industries. Recently, peak-pair method has drawn great attention compared to geometric phase analysis, owing to its precise determination of atom position at real space. Most current strain characterization methods estimate the local strain by comparing it with the related information from unstrained areas as reference. However, peak-pair method generated large errors in some cases because of the complexity of lower symmetric crystal structures, such as hexagonal structure. In this study, we introduce a new algorithm to overcome this limitation by directly comparing the atom positions with multiple references with different lattice symmetries. Furthermore, this new method is validated through several complicated crystal systems such as hexagonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, and tetragonal structure, and returns expected values. This finding is essential to reliably determine the localized elastic strain with various crystal structures.

Driving innovation in supply chains: an examination of advanced manufacturing and food industries

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how supply chains can become more resilient through innovation initiatives. It examines the expansion and deepening of relationships between buyers and suppliers and the facilitatory role of the government in this process. Design/methodology/approach This study compares supply chains in the advanced manufacturing and food industries. It is based on qualitative research involving case studies and in-depth interviews with buyers, suppliers and facilitators from government. Findings The study reveals that innovation is critical in building more resilient supply chains. It uncovers the importance of power distribution, coordination, communication, trust and commitment for innovation within these relationships. Practical implications It provides implications about how best to develop effective buyer–supplier relationships through innovation and diversification, for marketing and purchasing managers, CEOs of manufacturing companies and suppliers and government players with responsibility for industry development and innovation. Originality/value It advances the industrial buyer–supplier literature by extending the predominantly business-to-business supply chain perspective to include the role of government in supply chains and their innovation.

Development of Chinese Advanced Manufacturing Industry

Development of Chinese Advanced Manufacturing Industry

Digitalizing the maritime industry: A case study of technology acquisition and enabling advanced manufacturing technology

The need to reduce time-to-market and reduce cost-of-non-quality drives organizations operating within the advanced manufacturing industry to explore, and source technology externally. This paper reports on a case study of enabling technology and strategies for technology acquisition. The data is collected through in-depth structured interviews with five global technology experts. The interview guide is developed based on data collected in the Norwegian maritime industry, which deliver vessels to global markets and a high-level adopter of advanced manufacturing technology. The analyzis was done in Nvivo. Results relates to three modes of technology acquisition, namely alliances & licensing, monitor, acquire&merger, and coopetition.

Improving the fracture toughness and flame retardant properties of epoxy thermosets by phosphaphenanthrene/siloxane cluster-like molecules with multiple reactive groups

To meet the increasingly stringent requirements for the fire safety and mechanical properties of epoxy thermoset (EP) in advanced manufacturing industry, two kinds of phosphaphenanthrene/siloxane cluster-like molecules with multiple reactive groups (TriDSi and TetraDSi) were synthesized, and then linked into the cross-linked network of epoxy thermoset, separately. The incorporated TriDSi and TetraDSi improved the fracture toughness and flame retardant performance of epoxy thermoset, simultaneously. The impact strength of 6%TriDSi/EP and 6%TetraDSi/EP both increased by more than 120%, compared with that of neat epoxy thermoset. Meanwhile, 6%TriDSi/EP and 6%TetraDSi/EP both passed UL94 V-0 rating with a limited oxygen index of 35.2% and 36.0%, respectively. Moreover, the heat release of burning thermoset was also suppressed significantly by incorporated cluster-like molecules. Through segmer-aggregation toughening effect and group-aggregation flame retardant effect, the cluster-like molecules TriDSi and TetraDSi endowed epoxy thermoset with superior fracture toughness and significantly lowered combustibility. This study provides a promising choice to manufacture advanced epoxy thermoset materials.

Study on the Development Path of Advanced Manufacturing Industry in Jiangsu

If looked from the aspect of overall structure of manufacturing industry, there are great differences between Jiangsu manufacturing industry and Canadian manufacturing industry. But if we focus on the proportion development trend of advanced manufacturing industry, there are many similarities and comparisons between them. Therefore, studying the development trend, fluctuation reasons, experience and lessons of Canada's advanced manufacturing industry, as well as the government's strategic deployment of advanced manufacturing industry, has certain reference significance for Jiangsu's advanced manufacturing development strategy, direction, and specific feasible measures. On the basis of defining the concept of advanced manufacturing industry, this paper compares the similarities and differences between Canada and China in the development of advanced manufacturing industry, analyses the experience and lessons of Canada in the development of advanced manufacturing industry, tries to draw lessons from them, and explores the further cultivation and development path of Jiangsu's advanced manufacturing industry

Greening of Industrial Hubs: A 21st Century Development Strategy

After the success of East Asian industrialization efforts in the late 20th century, the 21st century has witnessed the turn of industrializing giants, led by China and India, to claim the fruits of advanced manufacturing industries. At the scale of transformation engaged in by these giants, the traditional fossil fuelled pathway involving oil, gas and coal is simply not feasible – for reasons to do with energy and resource insecurity and catastrophic urban pollution as much as for concerns over global warming and climate change. The key to success in their endeavors lies not just at the macro level of national industrial sectors, or the micro level of firms, but at the meso level of suprafirm structures and dynamics, involving clusters, industrial hubs and EPZs. These hubs or clusters provide the optimal setting for greening initiatives, as the industrial parks are turned into eco-industrial parks based on circular economy principles.

A novel unified model of keyhole plasma arc welding

Keyhole plasma arc welding (PAW) has great potential in the advanced manufacturing industry. Previous research on PAW mainly concerns heat transfer in workpiece without plasma arc. Only several researchers constructed unified models of plasma arc and weld pool to investigate the keyhole welding process by Volume of Fluid (VOF) technique, while it takes too much computational time and resources. A novel unified heat transfer model was developed to demonstrate the keyhole-mode heat transfer in weld pool avoiding the cumbersome VOF technique. With a simple tip to exert the arc pressure calculated from plasma arc region into the weld pool, the model presents equivalent effects like a keyhole model. Electro-magneto-thermal conversion and the resulting thermal-mechanical interaction between plasma arc and weld pool are revealed. Heat flux and arc pressure both display a Gaussian distribution on the workpiece surface, and metal within r = 4 mm is mostly affected. Weld pool gradually increases into a “reversed bugle-like” configuration due to the coupled thermal-mechanical effects from plasma arc. Two opposite circular flows appear at the bottom and the top edge of weld pool, which are dominated by the plasma arc force and Marangoni force, respectively. Calculated arc pressure distributions generally coincide with experimental results and previous research, and calculated weld pool geometry agrees well with experimental result, as well as the time for full penetration welding. The new model shows quite good applicability and simplicity.

Strategy Positioning and Path Choice in the Development of AMI

This paper analyzes the theory of strategy and positioning, provides basic framework of strategy positioning and development path of advanced manufacturing industry (AMI). Through the theoretical analysis of strategic positioning, based on the strategic logic of becoming manufacturing power and strategic positioning of advanced manufacturing, propose a basic framework of path choice in the development of AMI. The overall strategic path of the AMI can be regarded as a synthesis between industrial strategic positions, the strategic goal and the two-way movement of the smile curve of manufacturing.