Product Description: The complete shop floor automation - a "lights out factory", where workers initially set up all machines, turn off the lights, lock the door and the machine churns up the parts - remains an unfulfilled dream. Yet when we look at the enormity of the process of automation and integration even for the most simply conceived part factory, we can recognize that automation has been applied and is being applied, more so when it made sense from a cost/benefit standpoint...read more

Product Description: The total integration of the process of designing, manufacturing, and supporting a product from the earliest conceptual phase to the time it is removed from service remains an unfulfilled dream. Yet, when we look at the enormity of the process of integration even for the most simply conceived and manufactured items, we can recognize that substantial progress has been and is being made...read more