Tele-Design for Manufacturing

Abstract One of the main challenges in manufacturing today is to reduce the time cycle for designing and prototyping new products. Tele-designing for manufacturing systems will make it possible to integrate distributed processes into one unified continuous manufacturing process. Tele-engineering is based on two merged technologies: Reverse Engineering (RE) and Rapid Prototyping (RP). These technologies together form an interactive and collaborative distributed system that transfers, models and analyzes scaled 3D models in real time. However, the current state of the art in these technologies does not provide a complete tele-manufacturing system. This paper surveys these RE and RP technologies and outlines their pros and cons with respect to tele-engineering. Then, it proposes a reconstruction method based on a Neural Network (NN) technique that improves the tele-engineering process. Finally, the paper discusses expected future advancements, including the extension of the proposed Neural Network method and its impact in the near future on tele-engineering.