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Modern manufacturing systems must be engineered as any other complex systems, especially in the context of their integration. The book first presents the all-embracing concept of the Extended Enterprise as way of inter-enterprise integration. It then focusses on Enterprise Engineering methods and tools to address intra-enterprise integration using a model-based approach. Business process modelling and re-engineering isssues are particularly discussed and tools presented. Formal specification and Petri net-based analysis methods for manufacturing systems complete the set of tools for Enterprise Engineering. Coordination and integration issues of manufacturing systems and their business processes are then covered and examples of integration platforms presented. Finally, standardization and pre-standardization issues related to enterprise modelling and integration conclude the book.

M. Silva Significant changes have been occurring in industrialized countries since the Second World War. Production is moving towards sophisticated high­ qUality products, economy of scale has been replaced by economy of scope, jerky demands are progressively replacing steady demands, and competi­ tiveness is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. These trends require highly automated manufacturing systems with small set-up times and high flex­ ibility. As a consequence, implementation and running costs of modem manufacturing systems are drastically increasing, whereas their fields of application remain limited, and every day become even narrower, which increases the risk of early obsolescence. This is the reason why designers are trying to improve the preliminary design phase, also known as the'paper study phase'. The preliminary design phase includes, but is not limited to, the func­ tional specification, and the evaluation of the system. Many tools exist to support the functional specification of manufactur­ ing systems. IDEFO is one of these tools. It leads, using a top-down ap­ proach, to a precise functional description of the required system. However, its use cannot be extended further. In general, the evaluation starts with a modeling step, which depends on the evaluation tool used, and ends by applying the model to find out its main dynamic characteristics. Two main approaches can be used to perform this task, namely simulation and math­ ematical approach. Using simulation, the modeling tool is either a classical computer language, or a simulation language.

Productivity enhancement is a major concern for all manufacturing enterprises. Productivity enhancement can be achieved in many ways and many facets of its problems have been investigated over the last decades. A number of methods, tools and technologies have emerged to efficiently increase productivity and rationalize management of manufacturing enterprises. International experts from both academia and industry share their experiences in this collection of articles, contributing to the latest advances in the many facets of productivity enhancement in manufacturing enterprises. Themes and visions are detailed on factories of the future, new management approaches, manufacturing system integration and manufacturing information systems. These technical areas can be grouped into four major sections: Factories of the future; Techniques and tools for automated manufacturing; Robotics; and Industrial applications. The papers illustrate a pattern of valuable and interesting approaches to the fascinating problem of designing a new generation of robots with high enough performance capabilities to be used in an industrial context.