With MEMS/NEMS being intensively developed for both consumer and industrial products, micro-nanofabrication is now moving from academics to industrial use. MEMS/NEMS and precision microdevices used in conventional photolithography, technology and suitable fabrication methods are now being selected based on materials, device structure, and fabrication cost, among others. These fabrication methods could become the frontier of manufacturing technology in many application areas.

The themes treated in this special issue include the latest advanced research on micro-nanomaterials and processing for MEMS/NEMS and precision microdevices. These papers are expected to contribute much to further developing MEMS/NEMS and precision microdevices.

In closing, I would like to thank the authors for their valuable submissions and the reviewers for their incisive efforts, without which this special issue would not have been possible. We are most grateful to all who have contributed their time and effort to ensuring this issue’s success.

Demands for machine tools that are highly accurate, productive, flexible, and compact have been growing in the aerospace, automotive, energy, factory automation, and other industries. Rationally meeting these severe, complex requirements has led to numerous research and development activities involving machine tools. Few machine tool technologies have been established, however, despite the machine tool industry’s long history. Within the next several years, the rapid change and enlargement of the

This mini special issue on machine tool structure and its design optimization features 8 papers classified under the following themes:

– Enhancing high static and dynamic rigidity
– Minimizing and optimizing thermal deformation
– Proposing new structural analysis methods for machine tools
– Selecting and applying new structural materials to the machinetool structure
– Applying new structural designs and mechanisms

These papers present new design concepts, design methods, and innovative examples in machine tool development. I believe that successfully combining these core technologies will provide machine tool compatible with future manufacturing environments.

In closing, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the authors and reviewers for their interesting and dedicated contributions to this special issue.

Industrial production processes are becoming more difficult and complex because of the need to accept or react to global requirements for ecology, energy saving, downsizing, short lead times, information technology, etc. Metrology and inspection play very important roles in production processes because these must decide the final quality of manufactured industrial goods. Laser/optical metrology is widely used in industry to maintain meter definition traceability because it is, in principle, nondestructive. This makes laser metrology a candidate for use in final industrial inspection.

This special issue originated in Laser Metrology for Precision Measurement and Inspection in Industry 2014 (LMPMI2014), also the 11th IMEKO symposium. LMPMI2014 covers a very wide area, including precision engineering, dimensional measurement, shape measurement, micro/meso/nano metrology, interferometry, and standards and calibration technology. This IJAT special issuefeatures papers selected from LMPMI2014. Advanced papers in this issue present the latest achievements in laser metrology ranging from basic research to actual industrial application. These papers should prove useful to readers seeking to share their industrial R&D knowledge and experience.

The important contributions of the authors and reviewers are most deeply appreciated and make this issue both fascinating and its ideas far-reaching.

This issue focuses on production planning and scheduling for production system and the related problems that have arisen in these areas in the last half century as digital computer systems developed. These problems relate to production management, production planning, shop floor control, product design and process planning. In the first stage of production planning and scheduling systems R&D, optimization is a key issue that has been widely discussed and many theories and optimization algorithms proposed. Rule-based methods are discussed as potential solutions to these problems. With rapid advances in computer and information processing technologies and performance, tremendous progress has been made in the areas of production systems such as production planning, production scheduling, advances production systems (APS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), just-in time (JIT) processes, the theory of constraint (TOC), product data management (PDM) and computer-aided design / manufacturing / engineering (CAD/CAM/CAE). This special issue addresses the latest research advances, applications, and case studies in production planning and scheduling covering such as decentralized and autonomous production systems, distributed simulation models, robust capacity planning models, wireless sensor networks for production systems and applications to automotive component and steel production. We hope that learning about these advances will enable readers to share their own experience and knowledge in technology, new developments and the potential applications of production planning and scheduling methods and solutions.

Traditional manufacturing is based on process-planning by experienced engineers, who iteratively try their methods in the shop until the results are satisfactory. This trial-and-error-based approach increases the product costs due to high scrap rates and conservative manufacturing strategies. The trend is to digitally simulate, optimize, and plan manufacturing before costly physical trials. The quality of virtual manufacturing depends on the accuracy of process models based on scientific principles. The aim of this special issue is to show how the manufacturing process physics can be incorporated into digital engineering steps to achieve virtual manufacturing. This special issue has four articles illustrating sample virtual machining strategies. Process plans are automatically generated by considering the part features; machining of flexible thin walls is planned by considering their static stiffness; the environmental impact is considered in simulating machining costs of parts and chatter free conditions are predicted in milling metallic parts with robots. I thank the authors and reviewers for their valuable contributions to the special issue. We hope to trigger digital modeling of various, challenging machining operations in the future.

Control and process monitoring are key technologies supporting high machining accuracy and efficiency. This special issue features six papers taking novel approaches to controlling machine and cutting tools and monitoring the machining process. The motion control of machine tools and cutting tools are introduced. A new challenge for monitoring the machining process by referring to NC control servo signals implements a practical proposal. The precise identification of friction at driving elements of machine tool components is an important factor in improving machine tool control motion accuracy. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the authors and reviewers whose invaluable efforts have helped make the publication of this manuscript possible.

This issue focuses on design and manufacturing theories and methodologies aimed at achieving environmental sustainability. It has been two decades since environmental sustainability and related issues have been discussed as main issues in design and manufacturing. In these 20 years, theories and methodologies have been developed on environmentally conscious design, including the design of disassembly and life cycle assessment, and manufacturing techniques for saving energy and resources and low emission. In spite of these efforts, the seriousness of the environmental issues, e.g., global warming, is getting harder and harder and new issues continuously arise. It has gradually been recognized that essential problems reside within the manufacturing industry structure and the center of the manufacturing industry has shifted from developed countries such as Japan and US to developing countries with accelerating mass production and mass consumption. Based on this recognition, this special issues deals with rather novel topics emerging in the domain of design and manufacturing for environmental sustainability. The first five papers provide a global scope on the relationship between environmental sustainability and manufacturing industry, including global energy consumption patterns, manufacturing industry scenario writing, informative reviews on lean remanufacturing, urban mining, and education on resource scarcity. The second three papers focus on human recognition and behavior – emerging topics in this domain – including socially responsible investment, customer choice, and the routing of electric vehicles. The last five papers propose new methods or technologies of environmentally conscious design and sustainable manufacturing, including ecobusiness design, electric vehicle heating systems, and the sustainability evaluation of manufacturing processes. Some papers, revised and extended in response to the editor’s invitations, were originally presented at EcoDesign 2013: 8th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing (Jeju, Korea). The editor sincerely thanks the authors and reviewers for their devoted work in making this special issue possible. We hope that these articles will encourage further research on design and manufacturing for environmental sustainability.

Advanced products demand advanced CAD, CAM, and digital engineering systems. This is the main consideration in this special issue. It is well understood by all manufacturers nowadays that CAD, CAM, and digital engineering systems behave as “Hidden factories” of engineering information processing and are indispensable to the accomplishment of their daily tasks. No products can be planned, designed, machined, and assembled without these hidden factories. The history of CAD/CAM goes back nearly five decades, yet the technologies are still immature: a lot of technical issues remain to be solved because new materials and structures have been introduced in products, new manufacturing technologies have been utilized, and new social needs, such as the need for ”eco-X” or ”human-oriented” products, have grown along with the dramatic changes in society. New high-performance computing resources, such asWeb-based computing or GPUcomputing, have also become available for implementation in these systems. Thirteen technical papers in this issue tackle these challenges, proposing solutions from utilizing technologies, including computer-aided geometric design (CAGD), CAD, CAE, CAPP, and CAM, as well as novel human interfaces for these systems. Some of the papers, revised and extended in response to the editors’ invitations, are versions of works presented at the Asian Conference on Design and Digital Engineering 2012 (Niseko, Japan) and 2013 (Seoul, Korea). In addition, two well-organized review papers in this issue provide informative and comprehensive surveys of aesthetic curve and surface design in CAGD and knowledge structuring and logic reasoning in CAPP, respectively. They include rich lists of references which will help the readers to quickly gain an overview of the current status and future research directions of these fields. Finally, the editors sincerely thank all the authors and anonymous reviewers for their devoted work, as they made this special issue possible. We expect that it will encourage further research on advanced CAD, CAM, CAE, CAPP, and digital engineering systems.

Robotics has become one of the most important automation technologies for industry and society. Robot components such as actuators and sensors, together with mechanisms and control systems, are being more and more combined with intelligent sensors in innovative industry design and fabrication. Robot technology is being applied in such fields as welfare, education, agriculture, and energy. Robot technology for welfare and nursing is being promoted by the government to increase lifestyle creativity as society ages. This special issue focuses on robotics in fields from manufacturing industries to societal needs. Papers ranging from robotics theory to robot application have been invited. Among the topics covered are robot mechanisms, robot components, actuators, sensors, and controllers, robot control theory, robotic systems, energy saving, industrial applications, automation, vehicles, entertainment, medicine, welfare and nursing applications, and robotics education. The 15 papers presented in this issue include actuators such as rubber artificial muscles or phase-change actuators, pneumatics, power assist devices such as assist glove and upper-limb assist devices, robotic suits, sensor fusion, omnidirectional locomotion, underwater robots, force display apparatuses, meal assistant robots, manufacturing applications of parallel-link mechanisms, surface polishing, and agricultural applications. These papers bring readers the latest state-of-the-art robot technologies useful in everything from analysis and design to control and applications in innovative industries. We thank the authors for their invaluable contributions and the reviewers for their advice – all of which have made this special issue both informative and entertaining.

A broad sense of values, globalization, and ecology is needed in production activities because production processes are becoming rapidly more complex due to demands for downsizing, functionality, quality. This is in addition to cost reduction, shorter lead times, and energy saving in fabrication. Many types of measurement system and large amounts of production information are therefore needed in production engineering. In-process and on-machine measurements are used to evaluate a variety of machining factors and conditions and work done on machine tools. With increasingly complex machining processes and greater needs for accuracy and precision, the demand for advances in process optimization has also grown. This special issue covers manufacturing metrology and quality management as its two main fields of interest, together with their important implications for science, industry, and engineering. This special issue also covers novel in-process and on-machine measurement and sensing and quality management techniques now being widely applied to production engineering, focusing on the important role of measurement in manufacturing technology as it progresses from inspection tools to strategic production tools in managing process quality and product quality control. The advanced papers in this special issue present the latest advancements in these fields, ranging from fundamental research to industrial applications. These reports will thus enable readers to share their experience and knowledge in technology, new development, and potential applications of promising techniques in measurement and in product and process quality control. We thank the authors for their invaluable contributions and the reviewers for their always useful advice, which have helped make this special issue both fascinating and far-reaching.

The development of medical devices and systems is essential for improving quality of life and reducing global healthcare costs. Machine tools are increasingly used in the medical, automotive, airplane, and electronics fields thanks to advances in manufacturing technology. The processing of artificial implants and biomaterials, for example, and parts of medical devices such as endoscopes are manufactured with multiaxis machine tools. This demand is expected to increase as society ages. Equipment used in diagnostics and surgery has also developed rapidly. Despite the use of advanced diagnostics such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), however, surgery still largely depends on the skill and sense of the surgeon. Advanced manufacturing technologies are thus needed to achieve these desired attributes. Biomanufacturing requires expertise in basic manufacturing processes such as cutting, electrophysical and chemical processes, forming, and abrasive processes. These, in turn, must be integrated into machine design, surface modification, precision engineering, and metrology within the overarching frameworks of design, life cycle engineering and assembly, production systems, and organization. Biomanufacturing is thus defined as the application of design and manufacturing technologies for reducing cost while advancing safety, quality, efficiency and speed in healthcare services and biomedical sciences. Biomanufacturing provides an excellent platform for converging innovations in precision engineering, nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive sciences. This special issue presents the latest in research advances, practical and theoretical applications, and case studies on biomanufacturing. The papers featured in this issue provide aid in the development of next-generation manufacturing technologies. We thank the authors for their invaluable contributions and the reviewers for their ever- useful advice. We know you will find this special issue both fascinating and worthwhile.

Highly complex nonsilicon submillimeter microparts such as glass waveguides, microlens arrays and holographic optical elements are coming increasingly into demand. These microparts feature such divergent properties as high hardness, high brittleness and high melting point. Despite the introduction of special technologies such as lithography and components such as lasers and electron beams, these unique properties make them particularly difficult to machine – and this comes at a time when micro manufacturing must provide processes that are maximally effective and efficient while remaining minimally expensive at the same time. These requirements call for innovations in mechanical manufacturing technologies that enable them to realize microfabrication, and these in turn require the discovery and implementation of such new processing principles as M4 – micro/meso mechanical manufacturing. These techniques are now at the frontier of manufacturing technology. The objective of this special issue is to address the latest in research advances, practical and theoretical applications, and various case studies on M4 processes. The papers featured in this issue provide help in development of next-generation manufacturing technologies. We thank the authors for their invaluable contributions and the reviewers for their always useful advice, which make this special issue both fascinating and worthwhile.

The 5th InternationalConference on Positioning Technology (ICPT2012) held at Garden Villa in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on November 14-16, 2012, attracted over 100 participants, who engaged in intense, enthusiastic discussions on positioning technologies. Dr. Toshiharu Tanaka, who coedited this special IJAT issue, planned to feature ICPT2012 presentations and asked presenters to submit papers. 14 papers have been submitted and evaluated by two reviewers. Of these, 12 papers have been accepted for publication. Given the excellent quality of the papers in this special issue, readers are certain to find invaluable nuggets of knowledge in positioning technologies. I sincerely thank the authors for submitting their papers and would like to express my deep gratitude to the reviewers for their invaluable comments.

Machining, such as cutting, grinding and polishing, is involved in the production of many industrial parts as one of manufacturing’s most important processes. Some of the parts are made directly by machining, and many other parts are mass-produced indirectly by machining through dies and molds. The accuracy of these components thus depends strongly on the machining process.

Machining is not an easy process, of course, since it generates large force and heat. Although machine tools are controlled to move precisely, the force and heat cause practical problems such as vibration, the displacement and deformation to mechanical structures, failure and wear in tools, errors of machining, measurement and control, etc. In many cases, these problems adversely affect or even change the process, which may cause further problems.

It is difficult but necessary to understand these mutual interactions to solve the problems and improve the machining process itself.

This special issue contains interesting papers that help answer important questions in machining, including the control, monitoring, simulation, and development of new fabrication processes. These papers promise to help improve machining accuracy and efficiency and to realize fully automated machining in the future.

We thank the authors for their insightful contributions and the reviewers for their invaluable advice that have made this special issue both fascinating and worthwhile.

Nickel-based super alloys, Ti alloys, CFRP, hardened steels, etc., are widely used in aerospace, automobile, chemical, and other industries because of such superior properties as high operating temperature, superior specific strength, outstanding hardness and/or great toughness. These properties, however, also present difficulties in machining, cutting temperature, cutting, adhesiveness, chip controllability and wear. Other distinguishing properties include instable tool life, surface finishing and chip control in machining. This means that the stabilization of cutting is very important, especially when machining NC machine tools. Metal machining involves many parameters, such as cutting tools, cutting oil, cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut, and machine use. A metal machining engineer therefore must decide all of these parameters to ensure their most suitable values under boundary conditions such as machining time, accuracy and the surface roughness of machined parts. Machining, especially of difficult-to-cut materials, is an optimization problem occurring under specified boundary conditions. Choosing machining parameters, including tool geometry and the most favorable features of work materials, must thus be figured out and optimum cutting conditions selected based both on metal machining theory and on practice. This special issue covers recent development in the machining of difficult-to-cut materials, including hardened steel, stainless steel, titanium alloys, Inconel 718, hard brittle materials and CFRP. All of the papers in this special issue are of great interest and value in machining these materials. We thank the authors for their invaluable submissions and the reviewers for their earnest efforts, without which this special issue would not have been possible.

The design and analysis of highly accurate measurement systems and positioning devices play a strategic key role in such application fields as aeronautics, machine tools, microelectromechanical systems, and life sciences needing increasingly effective noncontact testing, detailed characterization, and accurate performance. This makes it vital for us to update our knowledge with new contributions involving both scientific cuttingedge investigations and the latest industrial developments. This special issue addresses the latest research and development advances in the design and analysis of MEMS precision positioning and micropump systems, the development and calibration of stereo vision systems for infrared measurement and object recognition tasks, optomechatronics technologies for surface planeness and tolerance dimension measurement, non-contact light-probe precision measurement, optic fiber sensors and surface acoustic wave techniques for nondestructive testing monitoring and collision avoidance tasks in welding robots. This is to thank the authors for their enthusiastic contributions and the editing staff for its efficient support. We hope you will find this special issue both interesting and useful.

High production rates and low costs in manufacturing process should be considered in the manufacturing design divisions. Process simulation, therefore, plays an important role in implementing high performance manufacturing. Simulation is expected to improve the manufacturing processes and the human activities without production faults and downtime of the manufacturing facilities. The production simulation has become diversified with requirements for the manufacturing processes. Then, the effective use of the simulation is also an important issue for the simulation users considering investment returns. Recently advanced materials have been applied to products with developments in material science. The machining systems have also become complicated with progress in the machine tools. Therefore, the process simulations should be developed in terms of materials and machine tools. This special issue includes 9 papers for providing innovative approaches to advanced modeling and simulations in manufacturing technologies and machine tool systems. The special issue also includes discussions in the simulation with the advanced materials for future manufacturing processes. I thank the authors for their generous cooperation and the editing staff for its many contributions.

Welding is one of the most versatile joining methods for constructing products and structures in nearly all industrial fields. Arc has been widely used as a cheap heat source for welding since carbon arc fusion welding was first applied to join Pb plates in about 1880. New welding technologies have been developed according to social needs or changes since 1960. Therefore, half-automated welding, automatic welding and highefficient welding have been developed for saving man-power and afterward full automation. First, tandem one-side SAW (submerged arc welding), high-speed rotational arc, high-heat input SAW, tandem wire MAG, etc. have been introduced as highly efficient welding processes. On the other hand, as gas-shielding arc welding processes, CO2 gas, MAG, man-power saving automatic welding, the use of a flux-cored wire, AC MIG, MIG with two wires, laser-arc hybrid welding, CMT process have been developed and most widely employed in the industries in conjunction with an advance in the welding heat sources from thyristor to inverter and nowadays digital inverter. Furthermore, robotization has been developed from spot welding robot to squire robot, multi-axes GAM robot, mobile robot, portable many-axes robot and 7 axes robot together with the development in welding sensors such as probe sensor, one-touch sensor, magnetic sensor, arc sensor, laser-slit light sensor, stereo CCD, etc. Recently, novel arc sources are not developed, but deep weld penetration and geometry are controllably obtained in TIG welding by active flux pasted on the plate surface, good use of an active gas and narrow oxidation treatment. Clean MIG process for steels is also developed by use of a unique solid-wire of double layers with different melting temperatures, and different hybrid heat sources of plasma and GMA or laser and MIG. Hybrid welding processes with CO2 laser and MAG, disk laser and MAG, fiber laser and CO2 arc or MAG has recently been applied in the shipbuilding industry. I thank the authors for their generous cooperation to the publication of new development in the welding technologies.