Research Roadmaps in Manufacturing

The contribution of manufacturing to the momentum to change and improvement in modern civilization has its basis in innovations and improvements that to a large extent build on research activities. According to OECD manufacturing accounts for the bulk of business R&D. 80% of the EU private sector Research and Technology Development expenditure is spent within manufacturing. Much research work has been devoted to improving manufactured product quality and manufacturing process efficiency for many decades. However, new research areas in manufacturing are emerging and we also see that new research schools are now entering the manufacturing field, such as social science, strategy development, and increasingly innovation, knowledge and learning. Over the last 40–50 years manufacturing industry has undergone a significant change, new manufacturing paradigms have appeared with new focus areas. It is possible to recognize four generations of research focus areas: machine focus, factory focus, supply chain focus and now, life cycle focus.