Conclusion
The term “advanced manufacturing” encompasses many of the developments in the manufacturing field during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, including high tech products and processes and lean, green, and flexible manufacturing, among others. No one definition captures everything said about advanced manufacturing, although the majority of definitions found on the web include the use of innovative technology to improve products and/or processes, and many also include the use of new business/management methodologies. Accordingly, the definition that probably comes closest to being comprehensive is that given by Paul Fowler of the National Association of Advanced Manufacturing (NACFAM), celebrating its 20th anniversary this year:
“The Advanced Manufacturing entity makes extensive use of computer, high precision, and information technologies integrated with a high performance workforce in a production system capable of furnishing a heterogeneous mix of products in small or large volumes with both the efficiency of mass production and the flexibility of custom manufacturing in order to respond quickly to customer demands.” (Quoted in PCAST)
Read more about this topic: Advanced Manufacturing
Famous quotes containing the word conclusion:
“A certain kind of rich man afflicted with the symptoms of moral dandyism sooner or later comes to the conclusion that it isn’t enough merely to make money. He feels obliged to hold views, to espouse causes and elect Presidents, to explain to a trembling world how and why the world went wrong. The spectacle is nearly always comic.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“I have come to the conclusion that the major part of the work of a President is to increase the gate receipts of expositions and fairs and by tourists into town.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The source of our actions resides in an unconscious propensity to regard ourselves as the center, the cause, and the conclusion of time. Our reflexes and our pride transform into a planet the parcel of flesh and consciousness we are.”
—E.M. Cioran (b. 1911)