Manufacturing System Advances

This book discusses current advances, devices, methods and novel ideas in manufacturing systems. It consists of equipment, products, people, knowledge, control and support functions so as to create a framework which caters to market needs and demands in today's competitive world. It collects various researches conducted in fundamental and applied industrial fields. The book covers the latest developments, techniques and systems such as approach based on response surfaces method and ant colony system, wafer fabrication, fundamentals of global outsourcing for manufacturers, and hybrid manufacturing system design and development. The book will be useful to those involved in manufacturing engineering, systems and management and in manufacturing research.