Hello David,

There are many instances within the broader science, engineering and industry fields where the use of generic descriptors become typically ambiguous. While it may be acceptable within an informational (marketing/non-technical) sense the use of such descriptors reduce the overall quality of information especially within scientific or technical outputs. The term 'advanced' is applied to all of the aspects you have referred to and more without defining the conditions which justify use of the term. This may be due to generally accepted and clearly defined meaning within a specialist field or use of the terminology as a hyperterm only for sensationalism of a topic.

That said the use of the descriptor 'advanced' would signify that the subject in question, be it manufacturing, materials or a process, has been extended in some manner from that of the traditional or established by the use of new or superior technologies. Addressing your query 'all of the above' but context should be used to outline the aspect that advances the subject..

Great question thankyou.

The goals of the Advanced Manufacturing are to

• identify and integrate technical requirements,
• conduct joint program planning and coordination,and
• develop joint strategies or multi-agency joint solicitations for advanced manufacturing programs conducted by government.
• serves as a forum for the exchange and leveraging of information among the participating agencies.

Advanced manufacturing technologies and processes are numerically controlled machines, carbon fiber composites, microelectronics fabrication, advanced radars, laser guided munitions, lean production methods, advanced optics, and advanced soldier body armor

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/iam_advancedmanufacturing_strategicplan_2012.pdf

Advanced manufacturing refers at new process or relatively new process than be used for example in advanced machining. High speed cutting to machine hard dies, new cutting tools materiales (like ceramic) applied to difficult cutting materiales like inconel and titanium (poor machinability materials).

There are many examples for explain advanced manufacturing.

Multitasking machining, flexible manufacturing cells and so on.

Read two books, first the goal, by eli goldrat, and then the race, same authour.

These give the real reasons why manufacturing had to change. Out of this thinking came advanced manufacturing.

Modern machining allows parts to be economically made in small quantities. Old fashioned batch manufacture was used to minimise the effect of setup time. However, this had tbe effect of large inventories and high working capital tied up. Large batch quantities also delay overall production time. This has two effects, first it adds risk to the business, because if a product no longer sells, a lot of inventory has to be written off, and secondly, new product introduction takes longer, meaning competitors can grab market share more quickly. So the drivers of advanced manufacturing are to makea batch of one at a lower cost by Iintelligent application of new machines.

Hop this helps,

Regards

Dr. Paul H. Riley

advanced manufacturing often referred as modern manufacturing dwells upon the use and application of new & improved manufacturing processes, systems and solutions for performing multi-functional jobs. Such advanced manufacturing processes take less time and costs (e.g., machining, cuts chips faster).

More can be read at

Chapter Modern Manufacturing

This term there are also problems in the electrical technology, which speaks of conventional and non-conventional method. A general classification is good and necessary, but with time methods are still referred to as "advanced", although they are already used for decades, but always new solutions they can still seem interesting.

I give them right to say, for general publication, you can use this "word constructs" in the scientific publication more accurate numbers would be useful.

I would like to also give an example from the field of EDM. However, the research of generators is discussed in the beginning, which are sources that form a desired pulse energy. So these electronic components must be correctly called pulse energy sources.

Regards

Hans-Peter

Hans-Peter makes an interesting point.

In the electronics field, cost is brought down mainly by putting more devices on a wafer (clever waver geometry also helps reduce cost).  It would thus appear difficult to achieve a "batch of one". However, as geometries get smaller the cost per gate (or transistor) plummets. This has led to an interesting path. At one time ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) were used in specialist applications, but required large volumes to recover the development costs. FPGA (Field programmable gate array) were used for small bespoke systems but had limited capability). With small geometries, ASIC's are going out of fashion except for very large volume consumer parts and FPGA's are taking over for most applications. An FPGA can be considered a "batch of one" as once blown it is a bespoke solution.

USB programmable microprocessors are also an example of "batch of one" solutions. here could one consider ease of programming as advanced manufacturing?? What do other people think?

Certainly the ability to make small transistor geometries is advanced, especially the techniques where the features are smaller than the wavelength of the light used to expose the wafer.

Regards

Paul

'Advanced' is always a subjective term, and the actual technologies will vary greatly by industry and application.  Krishnan Umachandran mentions some methods and collaboration techniques, from a Governmental point of view; therefore the technologies he mentions are strategic and defense related.  I come from a high volume manufacturing perspective, and for us 'advanced' are those techniques which allow us to become more cost effective and faster to market:  Math Models direct to mfg system; reduced setup times; use of standardized and short lead time tooling; practical levels of flexibility in high production systems; and methods of shortening cycle times and reducing product inventories.

But we should also consider the large number of 'advanced' or developing technologies that can be applied to all volume levels of manufacturing, which become very numerous: new materials; coating technologies; lasers and other newer methods of applying energy to shaping parts; sensor technologies for monitoring processes (must produce reliable and actionable data!!); net shape technologies for reducing machining chip removal (MIM, powdered metal, 3D printing); micromachining; machining of hard materials; electronics manufacturing techniques; and many more.

it means that non traditional manufacturing just like Electrical discharge machining, Laser Beam Machining etc. You can find more info in Advanced Machining Processes, McGraw Hill (Author: Hassan Abdel-Gawad El-Hofy)

Paul Riley hits a very cogent point.  I actually use The Goal as a textbook in my course in the design of production systems.  The Goldratt metrics of throughput, inventories and operating costs were derived for use in do-overs of previously dysfunctional factories, but they are also extremely useful tools in the design of new factories from scratch.  However, Theory of Constraints is not so much a manufacturing technology (advanced or otherwise) as it is a method of thinking  --  a habit of mind  --  to direct application of carefully disciplined thought in the management of manufacturing systems and resources.

Much of the other commentary that has been offered for this question seems to emphasize new technologies for processing parts and products (see especially commentary by Gary Paelicke, Martinez Krahmer and Paul Ewart).  From this (and prior experience and deep thought), I am beginning to form a consensus view that 'advanced' manufacturing is the realm of  ...  new technologies for adding value to workpieces and capabilities for processing an ever wider variety of workpiece materials into an ever widening variety of products (for any industry in any dimensional scale)  --  all with more intelligent organization and application of manufacturing  resources.

I would appreciate some critique of this draft statement for a definition of 'advanced'.  Many thanks to all who have added their views.  This is very useful!!

Manufacturing can be defined as the transformation of materials and information into goods for the satisfaction of human needs.

So i would say that manufacturing in its advanced form is the use of innovative technology to improve these processes involved in manufacturing. The products would be reliable, complex, having high levels of design and products that solve variety of society's problems.

Citing an example here would be agriculture; the normal farming processes involves planting of seeds and waiting for the appropriate time to harvest but with use of innovative technologies, the harvest could be sped up using chemicals that not only boost germination but also affect the constituent of the seed or plant being produced. Mechanized farming reduces labor though its capital intensive but on a large scale and long term brings the desired returns.

I hope this helps.

Meaning of the verb "to advance" is moving forward thus the term "advanced" implies that someone or something has moved forward earlier and faster than others. But this  conclusion is ambiguous without regarding the direction of advancement. Can anything that is new and different from state of the art be considered an advancement? In case of advanced manufacturing, value of an advanced technology and  knowledge is making the product more reliable,  more cost effective, less time consuming (lower lead time and time to market), less harmful to environment, and in general more satisfactory for customers, end users, and any other party involved. Thus, moving forward towards creating more value for customers and other stakeholders should be considered as the direction of advanced manufacturing. Is this a right conclusion? If it is, is any high technology necessarily an advanced technology?        

Why did someone mark me negative

Please explain

Hassanali: I agree with you.

 One of the prime directions of advanced manufacturing is often to move forward towards creating more value for customers and other stakeholders.

Today product is so complex, and organization has grown to be global that no single company is able to be cost- and-quality competitive without dependence on their strategic partners or suppliers. 

Many companies are therefore also focusing on adding values by selective "partnership". However, there are many ways to achieve this goal. Some are better than others.

You may find the attached reference useful:  

Article Towards Balancing Multiple Competitiveness Measures for impr...