Table Of ContentCONTRIBUTORS TO THIS VOLUME
JAMES S. ALBUS
DONALD S. BLOMQUIST
HOWARD P. BLOOM
GARY P. CARVER
RICHARD H. F. JACKSON
ALBERTJONES
PHILIP Ν ANZETTA
JOHN A. SIMPSON
DENNIS A. SWYT
CONTROL AND
DYNAMIC SYSTEMS
ADVANCES IN THEORY
AND APPLICATIONS
Volume Editor Edited by
RICHARD H. F. JACKSON C. T. LEONDES
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory School of Engineering and Applied Science
National Institute of Standards & Technology University of California, Los Angeles
Gaithersburg, Maryland Los Angeles, California
and
College of Engineering
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
VOLUME 4 5: MANUFACTURING AND
AUTOMATION SYSTEMS:
TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES
Part 1 of 5
Three Pillars of Manufacturing Technology
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
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CONTRIBUTORS
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors* contributions begin.
James S. Albus (197), Robot Systems Division, Manufacturing Engineering Labora-
tory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland
20899
Donald S. Blomquist (163), Automated Production Technology Division, Manufac-
turing Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
Howard P. Bloom (31), Factory Automation Systems Division, Manufacturing En-
gineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
Gary P. Carver (31), Factory Automation Systems Division, Manufacturing Engi-
neering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
Richard H. F. Jackson (1), Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, National Insti-
tute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
Albert Jones (249), Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of
Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
Philip Nanzetta (307), Office of Manufacturing Programs, Manufacturing Engineer-
ing Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg,
Maryland 20899
John A. Simpson (17,333), Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, National Insti-
tute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20809
Dennis A. Swyt (111), Precision Engineering Division, National Institute of Stan-
dards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
vii
PREFACE
At the start of this century, national economies on the international scene were,
to a large extent, agriculturally based. This was, perhaps, the dominant reason
for the protraction, on the international scene, of the Great Depression, which
began with the Wall Street stock market crash of October 1929. In any event,
after World War II the trend away from agriculturally based economies and to-
ward industrially based economies continued and strengthened. Indeed, today,
in the United States, approximately only 1% of the population is involved in the
agriculture industry. Yet, this small segment largely provides for the agriculture
requirements of the United States, and, in fact, provides significant agriculture
exports. This, of course, is made possible by the greatly improved techniques
and technologies utilized-in the agriculture industry.
The trend toward industrially based economies after World War II was, in
turn, followed by a trend toward service-based economies; and, in fact, in the
United States today roughly 70% of the employment is involved with service
industries, and this percentage continues to increase. Nevertheless, of course,
manufacturing retains its historic importance in the economy of the United States
and in other economies, and in the United States the manufacturing industries
account for the lion's share of exports and imports. Just as in the case of the
agriculture industries, more is continually expected from a constantly shrinking
percentage of the population. Also, just as in the case of the agriculture indus-
tries, this can only be possible through the utilization of constantly improving
techniques and technologies in the manufacturing industries in what is now popu-
larly referred to as the second Industrial Revolution. As a result, this is a particu-
larly appropriate time to treat the issue of manufacturing and automation sys-
tems in this international series. Thus, this is Part 1 of a five-part set of volumes
devoted to the most timely theme of "Manufacturing and Automation Systems:
Techniques and Technologies."
"Three Pillars of Manufacturing Technology" is the title of this volume. It is
edited by Richard H. F. Jackson, and its coauthors are Dr. Jackson and his col-
leagues at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufac-
turing Engineering Laboratory, a unique organization on the international scene.
ix
χ PREFACE
Ordinarily, in this Academic Press series, the series editor provides the overview
of the contents of the respective volumes in the Preface. However, in the case of
this unique volume, this, among other things, is provided by Dr. Jackson in the
first chapter of this volume. Therefore, suffice it to say here that Dr. Jackson and
his colleagues are all to be most highly commended for their efforts in producing
a most substantively important volume that will be of great and lasting signifi-
cance on the international scene.
C. T. Leondes
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
There are many who contributed to the production of this book whose names
do not appear on title pages. Principal among these are Barbara Horner and Donna
Rusyniak, and their participation bears special mention. Their editorial and or-
ganizational skills were invaluable in this effort, and their untiring and cheerful
manner throughout made it all possible.
Richard H. F. Jackson
xi
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY:
THE THREE PILLARS
RICHARD H.F. JACKSON
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg,MD 20899
I. INTRODUCTION
In their simplest form, the three pillars of manufacturing technology are: robots,
computers, and production equipment (or, in the case of mechanical
manufacturing: machine tools). Since the mid-twentieth century and the onslaught
of the second industrial revolution, these three pillars have formed the foundation
upon which all new techniques and advances in the technology of factory floor
systems have been built. This is of course not to deny the importance of advances
in non-technology areas such as lean production, quality management, continuous
improvement, and workforce training. On the contrary, improvements in these
areas can provide significant gains in industrial productivity and competitiveness.
Nevertheless, in the area of manufacturing systems the three pillars are just that:
the foundation. Because of their importance to the manufacturing systems of
today, and because they will also be critical to the development of the advanced
manufacturing systems of tomorrow, they are the theme of this volume. Further,
these pillars form the foundation of the advanced manufacturing research at the
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL) of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST), and since that work is at the center of the U.S.
government's programs in advanced manufacturing research and development, it
CONTROL AND DYNAMIC SYSTEMS, VOL. 45
1
2 RICHARD H. F. JACKSON
is featured here1. The chapters were produced by staff of MEL and can be
considered a profile of a successful research and development effort in
manufacturing technology, which profile is aimed at providing guidance for those
who would expand on it.
II. A VISION OF MANUFACTURING IN THE TWENTY-
FIRST CENTURY
To thrive in the twenty-first century, a manufacturing enterprise must be globally
competitive, produce the highest quality product, be a low cost, efficient producer,
and be responsive to the market and to the customer. In short, the next century's
successful manufacturing firms will be "World Class Manufacturers" who make
world class products for world class customers; i.e, customers who know precisely
what they want and are satisfied only with world-class products.
There are many perspectives from which one can view a world class
manufacturing firm. It can be viewed from the perspective of the shop floor and
its interplay of the hardware and software of production. It can be viewed from
the perspective of the legal environment in which it operates, both nationally and
internationally. It can be viewed from the standpoint of the business environment,
with its complex of tax and capital formation policies that affect long- and short-
term planning. It can be viewed from the perspective of its corporate structure
and embedded management techniques, which may facilitate or impede progress
toward a manufacturing system of the twenty-first century. It may be viewed
through the eyes of its employees, and the way it incorporates their ideas for
improving the manufacturing process, the way it seeks to train them and upgrade
their skills, and the way it strives to integrate them with the intelligent machines
of production. It may be viewed from the perspective of its policies for
performing, understanding, incorporating and transferring state-of-the-art
research in advanced manufacturing technology.
A world class manufacturer may be viewed from these and many other
perspectives, but, as depicted in Figure 1, the essential issue of importance for a
successful twenty-first century manufacturing enterprise is to learn how to operate
smoothly and efficiently within each of these regimes and to combine them into
a smoothly functioning, well-oiled engine of production. Such an engine takes as
input the classical categories of labor, capital, and material, and produces world
class products for world class customers.
*See the Appendix to this Introduction for a brief description of the
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory and its programs.
MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY: THE THREE PILLARS 3
21ST CENTURY MANUFACTURING
Figure 1. Twenty-First Century Manufacturing.
While each of these perspectives is certainly important in its own right, and the
interplay with the other factors is critical, in this book we concentrate on two of
the gears of the well-oiled machine: manufacturing technology research and
development, and technology deployment. We concentrate on these because
these are the only appropriate areas for a scientific and engineering laboratory
like NIST to address. In fact, NIST is the only federal research laboratory with
a specific mission to support U.S. industry by providing the measurements,
calibrations, quality assurance techniques, and generic technology required by U.S.
industry to support commerce and technological progress.
III. THE THREE PILLARS OF MANUFACTURING
TECHNOLOGY
We have organized this book and our programs at NIST around the three basic
components of any successful mechanical manufacturing system: machine tools
and basic precision metrology, intelligent machines and robotics, and computing
and information technology, all overlaid on a background of standards and
measurement technology, as shown in Figure 2. These are the three pillars of
manufacturing technology research and development because they have been,
are, and will be for some time to come, the quintessential components of factory
