Intelligent manufacturing: New advances and challenges

Since its humble infancy to turn a natural resource into a valuable product in the most economic, efficient, and effective way, manufacturing has been extensively practiced so as to optimize the interplay among people, machines, andmaterials. In the past decades, remarkable achievements have been witnessed in computation and communication technologies, facilitating the applicability of more sophisticated system configurations and requirements. At the same time, thematurity of manufacturing technologies has in turn spawned the continuing conception, development, and deployment of new relevant applications such as warehouse, logistics, and energy. All these stimulate researchers to keep working for decades to integrate recent achievements into production processes, envisagingmore advancements and developments of intelligent manufacturing. Despite many accomplishments in the area, fundamental challenges remain to be addressed. Numerous approaches are still in their transition from laboratory environments into real-world applications. To further advance the field, tangible and measurable progresses are needed not only in the theo-