In this paper we show how hybrid control and modeling techniques can be put to work for solving a problem of industrial relevance in SMT manufacturing. In particular, by closing the loop over the stencil printing process, we obtain a robust system that can recover from faulty initial settings, adapt to environmental changes and unscheduled interrupts, and remove discrepancies associated with bi...

Digital holography development has reached the level, which allows mass-manufacture of large size digital holograms – i-Lumograms, as well as manufacture of colour reflection holograms for security applications. Geola Digital also has proved that colour reflection holograms can be used as auto-stereoscopic projection displays for 3D gaming and home cinema applications. All that became possible ...

Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has revolutionized tissue engineering field because of its excellent potential of accurately positioning cell-laden constructs. One of the main challenges in the formation of functional engineered tissues is the lack of an efficient and extensive network of microvessels to support cell viability. By printing vascular cells and appropriate biomaterials,...

3DP (Three Dimensional Printing) technology is one of the SFF (Solid Freeform Fabrication) technologies which have recently come into the spotlight due to its adaptability to various applications. However, commercial 3DP machines are limited as to the use of building material, without voiding the warranty on the machine. At the same time, a rise in domestic rapid prototyping machines is observe...

Roll-to-roll converting machines have significant interactions in tensions and speeds among web spans. A reasonable MIMO model for web tension plays an important role for high-performance converting machines. In this paper, we derive a nonlinear MIMO web-tension model of a high-speed gravure printing machine considering span length to be time-varying instead of considering it to be fixed. Then ...

A small printing company in Johannesburg has experienced a steady decline in profits over the past four years, and wishes to reverse this trend. The objective of this study was to assess the implementation of Lean Manufacturing in that context, and to determine the impact it had on the printing company’s profit margin. A process-mapping of the printing organization was performed; this process-m...