Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing (1996) 7, i

Guest Editorial

Artificial Intelligence Applications in Design for Manufacturing and Concurrent Engineering: Part 2

As manufacturing industries strive to design and produce more cost-efficient products, it becomes increasingly clear that the key to cost-effective production depends on a life-cycle approach to product development and manufacturing. A technical approach that can be used to improve the current state of manufacturing companies is to incorporate design fir manufacturing (DFM) and concurrent engineering (CE) concepts into the design process. The success of this engineering alternative depends on the careful consideration of manufacturing issues during the early phases of the design effort by anticipating and eliminating high-risk or high-cost production problems.

The emergence of ar@cial intelligence (AI) and expert systems (ES) technology from the laboratory environment into general practice offers a promising approach for the development of intelligent applications in DFM and CE. These technical developments would be particularly valuable for design and manufacturing engineers. With them, a product design can be analyzed and evaluated with recommendations based on available knowledge prior to and during product development. In addition, an intelligent system can help to capture and transmit critical manufacturing knowledge from experts, helping to neutralize the effects of losing experienced design and manufacturing personnel.

The articles presented here are the second part of this special issue of the Journal of Intelligent A4anufacturing; Part 1 appeared in October 1995. The intent of this special issue is to provide its readers with the latest developments in the research and application of AI techniques for product development problems. The objective is to present some research initiatives that promise high levels of success in industry. The selected papers cover both the practical and theoretical aspects of AI applications in DFM and CE, and as such should be of great interest to readers of the Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing throughout the world.

I would like to express my gratitude to the contributing authors and reviewers for helping to make this issue possible. I am sure you will enjoy reading the selected papers.

Jo& M. Sitnchez Guest Editor

Centro de Inteligencia Artificial Instituto Tecnol6gico y de Estudios

Superiores de Monterrey Monterrey, NL, Mkxico

0956-5515 0 1996 Chapman & Hall