Publisher's Synopsis
The mounting pressures of global competition have forced manufacturers to develop a broader range of products in short product development cycles, using more flexible and efficient organisational and technological strategies. The need to communicate information more effectively among all those who design, manufacture, sell and use the product has led to new examinations of large-scale communication processes and the methods of optimising communication.;This publication offers international perspectives on how information needs to be better modelled, communicated, stored and accessed throughout the product life cycle. The scope of the papers is especially broad since contributions have been sourced not only from the academic and research communities but also from industry and commerce. Specifically, the industrial sector explores world-class manufacturing as driven business reality, integrated product development and demands for cultural and organisational changes that create new research paradigms focusing on customers and applications. The research faction, on the other hand, presents sophisticated technological solutions to resistant problems, whilst the educators raise questions about how to prepare Renaissance engineers for dealing with integrated enterprises.;In its entirety, the book provides an excellent reference tool for all concerned with innovative concepts and methods for improving communication in manufacturing within the present cultural, economic and technological environment.
