Ù This work was supported by Sandia Corporation under Contract No. DE-AC04-94-AL85000 with the U.S. Department of Energy. Abstract A CORBA-based distributed object software system was developed for Sandia’s Agile Manufacturing Testbed (SAMT). This information architecture supports the goals of agile manufacturing: rapid response to changing requirements; reduction in both time and cost of the p...

Manufacturing companies in the 21st Century will face unpredictable, high-frequency market changes driven by global competition. To stay competitive, these companies must possess new types of manufacturing systems that are cost-effective and very responsive to all these market changes. Reconfigurability, an engineering technology that deals with cost-effective, quick reaction to market changes,...

Tougher competitive situations have led to increasing attention being paid to customer satisfaction, of which timely and customized services are the key concepts. As the product life cycle becomes shortened, high product quality becomes necessary for survival. Markets become highly diversi® ed and global, and continuous and unexpected change become the key factors for success. The need for a me...

Rapid prototyping is a group of methods used to rapidly manufacture a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD), Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printing technology. Rapid prototyping techniques are often referred to solid free, computer automate...

BACKGROUND The application of a maxillofacial prosthesis is an alternative to surgery in functional-aesthetic facial reconstruction. Computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing has opened up a new approach to the fabrication of maxillofacial prostheses. An intelligentized rapid simulative design and manufacturing system for prostheses was developed to facilitate the prosthesis fabricatio...

Public infrastructure in Third World cities is generally in a fairly poor condition. The quality of infrastructure services is further eroded by the rapid population growth in most of these cities. Poor infrastructure reduces the profitability of modern sector manufacturing and may therefore inhibit industrialization. The present analysis demonstrates that there may arise situations with stable...

We describe two domain oriented design tools that help novice designers make three-dimensional models that they can build using rapid manufacturing equipment. By embedding domain and manufacturing knowledge in the software and providing a sketching interface, novice designers can acquire and practice skills in modeling and manufacturing, without first having to master complicated CAD tools. 1. ...