Featuring selected contributions from the 2nd International Conference on Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering, held in Nice, France, February 18-19, 2016, this book introduces recent advances and state-of-the-art technologies in the field of advanced intelligent manufacturing. This systematic and carefully detailed collection provides a valuable reference source for mechanical engineering researchers who want to learn about the latest developments in advanced manufacturing and automation, readers from industry seeking potential solutions for their own applications, and those involved in the robotics and mechatronics industry.

This book presents the proceedings of the first INCASE conference, organised by ARTC at A*STAR, Singapore. It provides a comprehensive review of recent advances in surface enhancement processes and strategies employed to assess their impact on materials properties and performance. As cyber-physical systems are becoming more and more relevant in manufacturing, it focuses on assessing the readiness of current technologies for future transformations, such as Industry 4.0, identifying the opportunities and challenges, and exploring ways to address them. Written by researchers, practising engineering and industry experts, the book bridges the gap between research and manufacturing, promoting technology adoption in industry and innovative ideas to prepare it for the future.

Compiled by an experienced practitioner in the field, this book contains definitions of the major terms used in Reliability Engineering and Software Assessment. Approximately 2000 definitions have been carefully selected from standards and literature published by leading institutions such as the IEEE and IEC. Alternative definitions of the same term are given where relevant, enabling the reader to compare and contrast, thereby giving useful insights into different aspects of the same term. There is also extensive cross-referencing to make the book easy to use and practical.
This book will provide an invaluable reference book for anyone working in the fields of reliability engineering or software assessment but should be of particular interest to industrial researchers and practitioners, members of standards committees, reliability consultants, students on Software Quality courses, technical authors and sub-editors.

The book introduces the reader to game-changing ways of building and utilizing Internet-based services related to design and manufacture activities through the cloud. In a broader sense, CBDM refers to a new product realization model that enables collective open innovation and rapid product development with minimum costs through social networking and negotiation platforms between service providers and consumers. It is a type of parallel and distributed system consisting of a collection of inter-connected physical and virtualized service pools of design and manufacturing resources as well as intelligent search capabilities for design and manufacturing solutions. Practicing engineers and decision makers will learn how to strategically position their product development operations for success in a globalized interconnected world.

The proceedings brings together a selection of papers from the 7th International Workshop of Advanced Manufacturing and Automation (IWAMA 2017), held in Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu, China on September 11-12, 2017. Most of the topics are focusing on novel techniques for manufacturing and automation in Industry 4.0. These contributions are vital for maintaining and improving economic development and quality of life. The proceeding will assist academic researchers and industrial engineers to implement the concepts and theories of Industry 4.0 in industrial practice, in order to effectively respond to the challenges posed by the 4th industrial revolution and smart factories.

This book presents selected peer-reviewed papers from the International Conference on Mechanical and Energy Technologies, which was held on 7-8 November 2019 at Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida, India. The book reports on the latest developments in the field of mechanical and energy technology in contributions prepared by experts from academia and industry. The broad range of topics covered includes aerodynamics and fluid mechanics, artificial intelligence, nonmaterial and nonmanufacturing technologies, rapid manufacturing technologies and prototyping, remanufacturing, renewable energies technologies, metrology and computer-aided inspection, etc. Accordingly, the book offers a valuable resource for researchers in various fields, especially mechanical and industrial engineering, and energy technologies.

This book broadens readers' understanding of proactive condition monitoring of low- speed machines in heavy industries. It focuses on why low-speed machines are different than others and how maintenance of these machines should be implemented with particular attention. The authors explain the best available monitoring techniques for various equipment and the principle of how to get proactive information from each technique. They further put forward possible strategies for application of FEM for detection of faults and technical assessment of machinery. Implementation phases are described and industrial case studies of proactive condition monitoring are included. Proactive Condition Monitoring of Low-Speed Machines is an essential resource for engineers and technical managers across a range of industries as well as design engineers working in industrial product development.

This excellent book systematically identifies the issues surrounding the effective linking of project management techniques and engineering applications. It is not a technical manual, nor is it procedure--led. Instead, it encourages creative learning of project engineering methodology that can be applied and modified in different situations. In short, it offers a distillation of practical 'on--the job' experience to help project engineers perform more effectively. While this book specifically addresses process plants, the principles are applicable to other types of engineering project where multidisciplinary engineering skills are required, such as power plant and general factory construction. It focuses on the technical aspects, which typically influence the configuration of the plant as a whole, on the interface between the various disciplines involved, and the way in which work is done -- the issues central to the co--ordination of the overall engineering effort. It develops an awareness of relationships with other parties -- clients, suppliers, package contractors, and construction managers -- and of how the structure and management of these relationships impact directly on the performance of the project engineer. Readers will welcome the author's straightforward approach in tackling sensitive issues head on. COMPLETE CONTENTS* Introduction* A process plant* A project and its management* A brief overview* The engineering work and its management* The project's industrial environment* The commercial environment* The contracting environment* The economic environment* Studies and proposals* Plant layout and modelling* Value engineering and plant optimization* Hazards, loss, and safety* Specification, selection and purchase* Fluid transport* Bulk solids transport* Slurries and two--phase transport* Hydraulic design and plant drainage* Observations on multidiscipline engineering* Detail design and drafting* The organization of work* Construction* Construction contracts* Commissioning* Communication* Change and chaos* Fast--track projects* Advanced information management* Project strategy development* Key issues summary

This handbook compiles state-of-the-art empirical studies and applications using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). It includes a collection of 18 chapters written by DEA experts. Chapter 1 examines the performance of CEOs of U.S. banks and thrifts. Chapter 2 describes the network operational structure of transportation organizations and the relative network data envelopment analysis model. Chapter 3 demonstrates how to use different types of DEA models to compute total-factor energy efficiency scores with an application to energy efficiency. In chapter 4, the authors explore the impact of incorporating customers' willingness to pay for service quality in benchmarking models on cost efficiency of distribution networks, and chapter 5 provides a brief review of previous applications of DEA to the professional baseball industry, followed by two detailed applications to Major League Baseball. Chapter 6 examines efficiency and productivity of U.S. property-liability (P-L) insurers using DEA, while chapter 7 presents a two-stage network DEA model that decomposes the overall efficiency of a decision-making unit into two components. Chapter 8 presents a review of the literature of DEA models for the perfoemance assessment of mutual funds, and chapter 9 discusses the management strategies formulation of the international tourist hotel industry in Taiwan. Chapter 10 presents a novel use of the two-stage network DEA to evaluate sustainable product design performances. In chapter 11 authors highlight limitations of some DEA environmental efficiency models, and chapter 12 reviews applications of DEA in secondary and tertiary education. Chapter 13 measures the relative performance of New York State school districts in the 2011-2012 academic year. Chapter 14 provides an introductory prelude to chapters 15 and 16, which both provide detailed applications of DEA in marketing. Chapter 17 then shows how to decompose a new total factor productivity index that satisfies all economically-relevant axioms from index theory with an application to U.S. agriculture. Finally, chapter 18 presents a unique study that conducts a DEA research front analysis, applying a network clustering method to group the DEA literature over the period 2000 to 2014.

Written specifically for the oil and gas industry, Reliable Maintenance Planning, Estimating, and Scheduling provides maintenance managers and engineers with the tools and techniques to create a manageable maintenance program that will save money and prevent costly facility shutdowns. The ABCs of work identification, planning, prioritization, scheduling, and execution are explained. The objective is to provide the capacity to identify, select and apply maintenance interventions that assure an effective maintenance management, while maximizing equipment performance, value creation and opportune and effective decision making. The book provides a pre- and post- self-assessment that will allow for measure competency improvement. Maintenance Managers and Engineers receive an expert guide for developing detailed actions including repairs, alterations, and preventative maintenance.

Industrial Process Automation Systems: Design and Implementation provides a clear guide to the practicalities of modern industrial automation systems.Bridging the gap between theory and technician level coverage, it offers a pragmatic approach to the subject based on industrial experience, taking in the latest technologies and professional practices. Clear coverage of concepts and applications provides engineers with the knowledge they need before referring to vendor documentation, while clear guidelines for implementing process control options and worked examples of deployments translate theory into practice with ease. "Industrial Process Automation Systems: Design and Implementation" is ideal as a detailed introduction for junior level professionals and as an applied reference for more experienced practitioners.
Provides knowledge of the different systems available and their applications, enabling engineers to design automation solutions to solve real industry problems.Includes case studies and valuable practical knowledge, such as key items that need to be specified when procuring automation systems.Written by an experienced practitioner from a leading technology company

This book presents the characteristics and benefits industrial organizations can reap from the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). These characteristics and benefits include enhanced competitiveness, increased proactive decision-making, improved creativity and innovation, augmented job creation, heightened agility to respond to continuously changing challenges, and intensified data-driven decision making. In a straightforward fashion, the book also helps readers understand complex concepts that are core to IIoT enterprises, such as Big Data, analytic architecture platforms, machine learning (ML) and data science algorithms, and the power of visualization to enrich the domains experts' decision making. The book also guides the reader on how to think about ways to define new business paradigms that the IIoT facilitates, as well how to increase the probability of success in managing analytic projects that are the core engine of decision-making in the IIoT enterprise. The book starts by defining an IIoT enterprise and the framework used to efficiently operate. A description of the concepts of industrial analytics, which is a major engine for decision making in the IIoT enterprise, is provided. It then discusses how data and machine learning (ML) play an important role in increasing the competitiveness of industrial enterprises that operate using the IIoT technology and business concepts. Real world examples of data driven IIoT enterprises and various business models are presented and a discussion on how the use of ML and data science help address complex decision-making problems and generate new job opportunities. The book presents in an easy-to-understand manner how ML algorithms work and operate on data generated in the IIoT enterprise. Useful for any industry professional interested in advanced industrial software applications, including business managers and professionals interested in how data analytics can help industries and to develop innovative business solutions, as well as data and computer scientists who wish to bridge the analytics and computer science fields with the industrial world, and project managers interested in managing advanced analytic projects.

This work illustrates research conducted over a ten-year timespan and addresses a fundamental issue in reliability theory. This still appears to be an empirically disorganized field and the book suggests employing a deductive base in order to evolve reliability as a science. The study is in line with the fundamental work by Gnedenko. Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko (1912 - 1995) was a Soviet mathematician who made significant contributions in various scientific areas. His name is especially associated with studies of dependability, for which he is often recognized as the 'father' of reliability theory. In the last few decades, this area has expanded in new directions such as safety, security, risk analysis and other fields, yet the book 'Mathematical Methods in Reliability Theory' written by Gnedenko with Alexander Soloviev and Yuri Belyaev still towers as a pillar of the reliability sector's configuration and identity. The present book proceeds in the direction opened by the cultural project of the Russian authors; in particular it identifies different trends in the hazard rate functions by means of deductive logic and demonstrations. Further, it arrives at multiple results by means of the entropy function, an original mathematical tool in the reliability domain. As such, it will greatly benefit all specialists in the field who are interested in unconventional solutions.

The volume presents the research work in understanding, modeling and quantifying the risks associated with different ways of implementing smart grid technology in power systems in order to plan and operate a modern power system with an acceptable level of reliability. Power systems throughout the world are undergoing significant changes creating new challenges to system planning and operation in order to provide reliable and efficient use of electrical energy. The appropriate use of smart grid technology is an important drive in mitigating these problems and requires considerable research activities, some of which (by researchers from academia and industry) are included in this volume: the reliability appraisal of smart grid technologies and their applications, micro-grids, assessment of plug-in hybrid vehicles and the system effects, smart system protection and reliability evaluation, demand response and smart maintenance of power system equipment.

Safe and high-efficiency operation are two main issues in rail transportation. This book focuses on these two key issues, bringing together a wealth of research to offer theoretical and technical support for rail operations and maintenance. In addition, it presents a comprehensive active safety assurance system for rail transportation, which includes the quantitative state identification and prediction of train components; rail transportation safety and reliability assessment methods; and rail transportation risk assessment at the rail networks level, which achieves the quantitative and high-precision monitoring of complex systems in real-time. In addition, it extends active safety based theory to safety prognostic analysis in the traffic system. Lastly, representative case studies verify that the theory is suitable for the actual traffic system.

Industrial Applications of Affective Engineering introduces new analytical methods such as fluctuation, fuzzy logic, fractals, and complex systems, and pursuing interdisciplinary research that traverses a wide range of fields, including information engineering, human engineering, cognitive science, psychology, and design studies. The book is split into two parts: theory and applications. The book is a collection of the best papers from ISAE2013 (International Symposium of Affective Engineering) held at Kitakyushu, Japan and Japan Kansei Engineering Meeting on March 6-8, 2013.

This book provides readers with a timely and comprehensive yet concise view on the field of fuzzy logic and its real-world applications. The chapters, written by authoritative scholars in the field, report on promising new models for data analysis, decision making, and systems modeling, with a special emphasis on their applications in management science. The book is a token of appreciation from the fuzzy research community to Professor Christer Carlsson for his long time research and organizational commitment, which have among other things resulted in the foundation and success of the Institute for Advanced Management Systems Research (IAMSR) at Abo Akademi University, in Abo (Turku), Finland. The book serves as timely guide for the fuzzy logic and operations research communities alike.

This book addresses information technologies recently applied in the field of construction safety. Combining case studies, literature reviews and interviews to study the issue, it presents cutting-edge applications of various information technologies (ITs) in construction in different parts of the world, together with a wealth of figures, tables and examples. Though primarily intended for researchers and experts in the field, the book will also benefit graduate students.

This book provides an overview of intelligent decision-making techniques and discusses their application in production and retail operations. Manufacturing and retail enterprises have stringent standards for using advanced and reliable techniques to improve decision-making processes, since these processes have significant effects on the performance of relevant operations and the entire supply chain. In recent years, researchers have been increasingly focusing attention on using intelligent techniques to solve various decision-making problems. The opening chapters provide an introduction to several commonly used intelligent techniques, such as genetic algorithm, harmony search, neural network and extreme learning machine. The book then explores the use of these techniques for handling various production and retail decision-making problems, such as production planning and scheduling, assembly line balancing, and sales forecasting.

Although maintaining assets is now recognized as a significant engineering function, attention has usually been focused, particularly in the developing countries, on the acquisition of assets. "Maintenance Standardization for Capital AssetS" explores maintenance management systems, stressing the need for manufacturers and maintenance engineers to develop a maintenance policy and systems as early as the design stage, and suggests ways to approach this need. Also included are strategies for developing countries and their donors to organize systems which can minimize failures and predict maintenance problems.

The book gives a broad overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept from various angles. The book provides rationale for: the concept development; its regulatory and technical background associated aspects such as the ambient and edge intelligence; fog computing; capillary networks and machine-type communications; etc. Each of these items is then extended in further respective chapters that deal with technicalities behind them. Chapters: 2-5, 8, 10-11 are addressed to those who seek expository IoT-related information on aspects such as the pathloss calculation, narrowband radio interfaces, radiation masks, spectrum matters, medium access control, and a transmission frame construction. That section ends with an exhaustive description of the six most popular IoT systems: LoRa, Weightless, SigFox, NB-IoT, LTE-M(TC) and EC-GSM IoT. Specialists and network designers may find chapters 6 and 7 interesting where a novel methodology is proposed for testing narrowband IoT systems performance for immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and multipath propagation, both emulated in artificial conditions of the anechoic and the reverberation chamber.

This proceedings volume contains papers that have been selected after review for oral presentation at ROMANSY 2018, the 22nd CISM-IFToMM Symposium on Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators. These papers cover advances on several aspects of the wide field of Robotics as concerning Theory and Practice of Robots and Manipulators. ROMANSY 2018 is the 22nd event in a series that started in 1973 as one of the first conference activities in the world on Robotics. The first event was held at CISM (International Centre for Mechanical Science) in Udine, Italy on 5-8 September 1973. It was also the first topic conference of IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science) and it was directed not only to the IFToMM community.

This book disseminates the current trends among innovative and high-quality research regarding the implementation of conceptual frameworks, strategies, techniques, methodologies, informatics platforms and models for developing advanced industrial tools and techniques and their application in different fields. It presents a collection of theoretical, real-world and original research works in the field of applied industrial tools and techniques. The text goes beyond the state-of-the-art in the field of industrial and software engineering, listing successful applications and use cases of studies of new approaches, applications, methods, techniques for developing advanced industrial tools, methodologies and techniques and their application in different fields. The topics covered in this book are of interest to academics, researchers, students, stakeholders and consultants.

This book uses case studies to discuss consumer awareness of and education on sustainable fashion. It highlights how some textile brands have started using consumer awareness tags to educate consumers on the use of their products (e.g. which machine cycle and temperature they should use to wash their products, as well as the best drying conditions in terms of environmental sustainability). Consumer awareness of and knowledge on sustainable fashion is the crux of customer-centric sustainability, and several NGOs and even brands have started taking essential steps to promote this.

The fuel consumption of a modern combustion engine is one of the most important purchase criteria in contemporary society. Increasing oil prices and exhaust emissions taxes force the automotive industry to continuously improve the vehicle engines. The fuel consumption is closely related to the frictional losses of an engine. New material pairings or constructive modifications of the piston group can reduce such losses. Another innovative concept to lower the frictional forces is the micro-structuring of thermo-mechanically highly stressed surfaces. Within an interdisciplinary research group sponsored by the German Research Foundation, scientists at the Leibniz Universitat Hannover and Universitat Kassel have been working together to investigate this research topic. This final report presents their findings and offers scope for further discussion.