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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
This study was supported by Contract No. DMC-8717382 between the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Competitive edge : research priorities for U.S. manufacturing : report of the Committee on Analysis of Research Directions and Needs in U.S. Manufacturing, Manufacturing Studies Board, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National Research Council.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-309-04385-9 : $24.95
1. Production engineering—Research—United States. I. National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Analysis of Research Directions and Needs in U.S. Manufacturing.
TS176.C6 1991
91-17465
658.5'072073—dc20
CIP
Copyright © 1991 by the National Academy of Sciences
No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use, without written permission from the publisher, except for the purposes of official use by the United States Government.
Printed in the United States of America First Printing July 1991 Second Printing October 1992
COMMITTEE ON ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH DIRECTIONS AND NEEDS IN U.S. MANUFACTURING
CYRIL M. PIERCE, Chairman, General Manager,
Manufacturing and Quality Technology Department, GE Aircraft Engines, Cincinnati, Ohio
AVAK AVAKIAN, Vice President (retired),
GTE Government Systems, Concord, Massachusetts
GERARDO BENI, Director,
Center for Robotics Systems in Microelectronics, University of California, Santa Barbara
WILLIAM G. HOWARD, JR., Senior Fellow,
National Academy of Engineering, Scottsdale, Arizona
RAMCHANDRAN JAIKUMAR, Professor of Business Administration,
Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
JOEL MOSES, Dean of Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
GUSTAV J. OLLING, Chief,
Automotive Research and CAD/CAM User Systems, Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Michigan
HRIDAY R. PRASAD, Manager of Technology Planning,
North American Automotive Manufacturing Operations, Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan
A. TIM SHERROD, President,
Savant Solutions Company, Menlo Park, California
DAN L. SHUNK, Director,
CIM Systems Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe
JAMES C. WILLIAMS, General Manager,
Engineering Materials Technology Laboratory, General Electric Company, Cincinnati, Ohio
MICHAEL J. WOZNY, Director,
Rensselaer Design Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
Staff
VERNA J. BOWEN, Staff Assistant (from Dec. 17, 1989)
LUCY V. FUSCO, Staff Assistant
THOMAS C. MAHONEY, Acting Director
KAREN L. MILLAN, Staff Assistant (until Dec. 16, 1989)
KERSTIN B. POLLACK, Study Director; MSB Director for Program Development; MSB Deputy Director
JOHN SIMON, Consultant, Writer-Editor
ERIC A. THACKER, Research Associate (until Aug. 10, 1990)
MANUFACTURING STUDIES BOARD
JAMES F. LARDNER, Chairman, Vice President (Retired),
Component Group, Deere & Company, Davenport, Iowa
MATTHEW O. DIGGS, JR., Chairman,
The Diggs Group, Dayton, Ohio
CHARLES P. FLETCHER, Vice President of Engineering,
Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
HEINZ K. FRIDRICH, Vice President,
Manufacturing, IBM Corporation, Purchase, New York
DAVID A. GARVIN, Professor,
Business Administration, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
LEONARD A. HARVEY, Secretary of Commerce,
Labor, and Environmental Resources, State of West Virginia (Retired), Vienna, West Virginia
CHARLES W. HOOVER, JR., Professor,
Department of Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York
JOEL MOSES, Dean of Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
LAURENCE C. SEIFERT, Vice President,
Communications and Computer Products, Sourcing and Manufacturing, AT&T Company, Bridgewater, New Jersey
JOHN M. STEWART, Director,
McKinsey and Company, Inc., New York, New York
WILLIAM J. USERY, JR., President,
Bill Usery Associates, Inc., Washington, D.C.
HERBERT B. VOELCKER,
Charles Lake
Professor of Engineering,
Sibley School of Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Staff
VERNA J. BOWEN, Staff Assistant
DANA G. CAINES, Staff Associate
LUCY V. FUSCO, Staff Assistant
THEODORE W. JONES, Research Associate
THOMAS C. MAHONEY, Acting Director
KERSTIN B. POLLACK, Deputy Director, and Director of New Program Development
MICHAEL L. WITMORE, Research Assistant
Preface
The Committee on Analysis of Research Directions and Needs in U.S. Manufacturing was charged by the National Science Foundation (NSF) with (1) identifying and ranking manufacturing-related technologies and disciplines to produce a comprehensive national manufacturing research agenda, and (2) performing in-depth analyses of some of the technologies and disciplines identified in that agenda. Concluding that the most important purpose of university efforts in manufacturing engineering and technology is to attract the most capable students to manufacturing careers, the committee determined that a national research agenda should address topics that encourage and develop students and faculty, while meeting industry's needs for new technology and high-leverage technical concepts. The committee reasoned that the audience for such an agenda extended beyond the program directors in the NSF's engineering directorate to the research community in government, industry, and academe.
The nature of manufacturing suggests a research spectrum ranging from concept definition to proof of concept feasibility to development of applications and implementation mechanisms. The committee reasoned that if problems are carefully selected and thoughtfully researched the results will provide the basis for practical application, and therefore agreed to focus on only the front end of this spectrum —definition and proof of concept. The committee nevertheless recognizes that improving the pipeline from concept to commercial viability is also an important issue in U.S. manufacturing.
The committee established four criteria for qualifying and ranking research:
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each project should be researchable within NSF's or other government agencies' accepted guidelines, and results should be available within a reasonable time frame;
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the research results should be useful in multiple industrial applications and provide capabilities and experience that advance manufacturing operations and competitiveness;
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research results should promote fundamental change in management practice and culture; and
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each project should expand scientific research relevant to manufacturing problems, encourage academic researchers to emphasize an interdisciplinary approach, and promote greater rapport between researchers and practitioners.
Interdisciplinary topics and problems in soft areas—e.g., management, human resources, and education—were deemed as important as the technology issues. The committee decided that the best way to handle soft issues is to encourage researchers to study new technologies and disciplines and their implications for managers, workers, and organizations concurrently. When shortcomings are evident in existing practices in these areas, however, the committee agreed to include relevant research topics in the comprehensive agenda.
The committee then subdivided manufacturing into six categories and nominated panels to develop research recommendations in each:
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intelligent manufacturing control,
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equipment reliability and maintenance,
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manufacturing of and with advanced engineered materials,
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manufacturing skills improvement,
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rapid product realization, and
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alternative concepts in manufacturing.
Subsequently, it was decided to narrow the categories further. Materials developed by the panel on alternative concepts in manufacturing were used to help develop an overview of the report and to add management and organizational issues to what were initially largely technology-oriented materials on the product realization process (“rapid” was dropped from the descriptor for that category because it was thought to be implicit). The final report thus recommends research in five general areas:
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