A manufacturing system is an integrated combination of processes, machine systems, people, organizational structures, information flows, control systems and support functions for economic and competitive development to satisfy market and societal needs. Traditional modes and models of manufacturing systems used in past decades are unlikely to meet the specifications of the Industry 4.0 revolution. Next-generation manufacturing must break the fundamental bottleneck of complexity and uncertainty which has been amplified by evolving customer needs and dynamic market environment. Our previous research introduced a novel Graduation Intelligent Manufacturing System (GiMS), which is designed to upgrade the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the next-generation smart manufacturing paradigm, in which complex manufacturing resources and activities are digitally transformed to reduce complexity and uncertainty so that decision models are simple and deterministic but integrated through visibility and traceability, facilitating optimization and implementation that would otherwise be challenging. We are keen to explore the design and development of intelligent and sustainable cyber-physical manufacturing systems, specifically focusing on the following aspects:
- How can cyber-physical manufacturing systems be designed to integrate digital representations of various manufacturing resources, processes, and capacities, and achieve real-time synchronization with their physical counterparts as changes occur?
- What role can artificial intelligence (AI) play in transforming cyber-physical manufacturing systems into intelligent ones that empower the delivery of on-demand products and services with enhanced cost-efficiency, responsiveness, and resilience?
- How can intelligent cyber-physical manufacturing systems advancing sustainability and enhancing well-being?