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Is Intelligent Manufacturing a Sensible Approach?

I recently visited one of the world's most modern automotive 
assembly plants in Japan. The manufacturer advertises it as using 
"Intelligent Manufacturing" and the plant uses a large number of 
robots and all major assemblies are moved to and on the assembly 
line under computer control.

But...
*	80 percent of the assembly is still done by hand;
*	None of the robots have vision or any other feedback from the 
	article being assembled, they all rely on exact and precise 
	repetition of the programmed process to produce the desired 
	result; and
*	There was little evidence of technology we would normally call 
	"Artificial Intelligence" apart from the use of fuzzy control 
	in some of the internal systems.

This indicates to me that there is still a long way to go to get 
truly "Intelligent Manufacturing". One step along the way may be 
the "Australasia-Pacific Forum on Intelligent Processing and 
Manufacturing of Materials" to be held on the Gold Coast in July 
1997. I have attached a copy of the call for papers.

If you have any interest in this area, please pass your email 
address to the conference General Chair (T.Chandra@uow.edu.au) to 
get more detailled information as it comes to hand.

Please note that the WWW homepage is: 
http://www.uow.edu.au/ipmm97/

Some earlier publicity for this conference mentioned Sydney as the 
venue; this has now been changed.



Graham Forsyth
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AUSTRALASIA-PACIFIC FORUM ON INTELLIGENT PROCESSING AND
MANUFACTURING OF MATERIALS 

July 14 - 17, 1997
Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise), Queensland, Australia 

Call for Papers 

Theme: Intelligent Systems for the 21st Century 

This International forum will examine the applications of 
Artificial Intelligence and related technologies including expert 
systems, fuzzy logic, neural networks, genetic algorithms and 
pattern recognition or hybrid systems combining one or more of 
these techniques as applied to real time material planning, process 
control and manufacturing. The aim of this conference is to provide 
a forum for presentation and discussion of the state-of-the-art 
and future trends in artificial intelligence in materials 
processing and manufacturing. 

The symposium will provide an opportunity for industry, government 
and academics to meet and discuss generic as well as industry-
specific AI applications and opportunities. The forum will 
encourage the interaction and exchange of ideas among all 
participants.  
 
Contributions are welcome from those working in industry and having 
experience in the topics of this conference as well as from 
academics. 
 
The topics of interest include but are not limited to:- 
 
Diagnostics	
Process Scheduling 	
Extrusion 
Material Selection	
Extraction 	
Forging 
Material Design	
Shaping/Forming  	
Heat-Treatment 
Monitoring and Control 	
Casting and Solidification	
Welding 
Process Planning 	
Sheet-Metal Forming	
Rolling 
Metal Removal 	
Simulation and Modelling 	
Environmental Issues 
 
The number of the participants at this symposium will be limited to 
200 to facilitate interaction among delegates and encourage them to 
develop professional contacts. Sessions will be planned such that 
enough time is available for leisure activities for delegates and 
accompanying members. 
 
The forum has been co-sponsored by US based TMS and ASM 
International and supported by six other professional bodies from 
Germany, Australia, Japan, UK, Italy and France. Both invited and 
contributed papers will be included. 
 
Plenary Speaker: 
 
Prof. Lotfi Zadeh, University of California, Berkeley, USA 


Keynote Speakers ( Partial list to date): 
 
Prof. John Debenum, Univ. of Technology, Sydney, Australia 
Prof. J. K. Brimacombe, Univ. of British Columbia, Canada 
Prof. A. J. Niemi, Helsinki Univ. of Tech, Finland 
Prof. T. Aizawa, Univ. of Tokyo, Japan 
Prof. H. J. Zimmerman, Tech. Univ. of Aachen, Germany 
Prof. I. V. Samarasekera, Univ. of British Columbia, Canada 



General Chair: 
T. Chandra, University of Wollongong Australia 
 
T. Sakai, Univ. of Electro-Communications, Japan 

Program Chair: 
Michael Smith, University of California Berkeley USA 
 
John A. Meech, University of British Columbia, Canada 
 
Forum Co-ordinators: 
T. Aizawa, Japan 
S.R.Leclair, USA 
G. Forsyth, Australia 
P.D. Hodgson, Australia 
L. L. Lee, Australia 
Y. Saito, Japan 
 

Program Committee: 
Iqbal Ahmad, USA 
H. Asanuma, Japan 
John Atkinson, USA 
M. Balachandran, Australia 
J. Barker, Australia 
Jagdish Chandra, USA 
R. Colas, Mexico 
R. J. Dippenaar, Australia 
Leonie Dunne, Australia 
A. Esogbue, USA 
X.D.Fang, USA 
M. Fuentes, Spain 
N.Glassman,USA 
B.Gurumoorthy, India 
C.A.( Tony) Harris, Canada 
S.M. Hwang, Korea 
T. Inoue, Japan 
I.S. Jawahir, USA 
E. K. Juuso, Finland 
C.G.Kang, Korea 
S.Kundu, Japan 
P. W. Kao , Taiwan 
M.  Lee, USA 
J.C.Malas, USA 
D. McKee, Australia 
M. L. Maher, Australia 
F.Nagdhy, Australia 
I. Ohnaka, Japan 
C. Ouchi, Japan 
Y. H. Pao, USA 
K. V. Patri, Hongkong 
W. Pedrycz, Canada 
K.Ridgway,UK 
Y. Saito, Japan 
S.S. Shivathaya, Australia 
J. Sutherland, Canada 
H.Takagi, Japan 
T. Takagi, Japan 
Y.Takefuji, Japan 
I. B. Turksen, Canada 
M. M. Veiga, Brazil 
J. Yen, USA 
S.Yue, Canada 
 
Tutorials: 
 
A series of 3 hour Tutorial Sessions will be held on the following 
AI topics: 
 
* DEVELOPMENT OF FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLERS 
* EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTING 
* PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SOFT COMPUTING TO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS
* INTELLIGENT REAL-TIME APPLICATIONS AND SOLUTIONS
* INTELLIGENT STEEL BILLET CASTING

Experts on these subject areas have been invited to co-ordinate 
these sessions as tutorials for those participants desiring more 
details on the topic in question than can be gained from a paper or 
simple presentation. 

Each session will be limited to 25 participants so book your 
registration early. Anyone who wishes to present another subject 
area of interest to the Conference Theme should provide a written 
proposal to the Forum Organizers. 

Abstracts: Send two copies of abstracts of 250 words (single spaced 
typed) of papers for contributed sessions by Oct 20th, 1996 to : 
 
T.Chandra 
Dept. of Materials Engineering, University of Wollongong 
Wollongong NSW 2500, Australia 
Tel: +61-42-213-008, Fax: +61-42-213-112, 
E-mail: t.chandra@uow.edu.au 
 
Future Announcements: To be placed on the mailing list for future 
announcements, send name and address to the conference secretariat.

POST-CONFERENCE TOUR: Special group tour to CAIRNS has been 
planned for the delegates and accompanying members after the forum. 
 
CAIRNS: Where Australia meets the South Pacific - a tropical 
paradise with world heritage listed areas - the Great Barrier Reef 
and ancient rain forest. 
 
For more information, please contact: 
 
T. Chandra 
Dept. of Materials Engineering, University of Wollongong 
Wollongong NSW 2500, Australia 
Tel: +61-42-213-008, Fax: +61-42-213-112, 
E-mail: t.chandra@uow.edu.au 

Important Dates: 
20 October 1996		Abstracts Due
14 November 1996	Abstracts Screened / Authors Notified
14 April 1997		Manuscripts Due (Maximum 8 pages) 
14 April 1997		Last Day for Postal Registration with 
				Remittance for Authors
14 July 1997		IPMM'97