The position, depth and direction of implant placement are often planned based on evaluation of radiographs and study casts. Insertion planned in such a manner may not be adequate for precise and safe surgery in some cases due to inadequate working clearance in the oral cavity. In order to obtain high initial stability and ensure osseointegration at the implant-bone interface, careful and preci...

Manufacturing managers today are pressed by aggressive international competitors, high input factor prices, and customers who demand better quality at lower cost. In such an environment, there is a growing need to exploit the time, cost and quality advantages of cell manufacturing (Hyer and Wemmerliiv (1984)). Unfortunately, traditional cost accounting systems may be a major roadblock on the hi...

The key to the creation of flexible automation is to use inherent redundancy in the capabilities of the system being controlled. This requires the control system to be continuously selfconfigurable under varying conditions. The ability of the control system to react to and predict changes will ultimately determine the economic viability of that system. In this paper, an Autonomous Cooperative S...

Plant floor material handling is a loose loop in most assembly plants. Simulation offers a quick, controllable and tunable approach for prototyping complex material handling processes in manufacturing environments. This paper proposes a hybrid simulation approach, using both discrete event and agent-based technologies, to model complex material handling processes in an assembly line. A prototyp...

Effective use of labor, providing system flexibility, increasing productivity, decreasing lead times and costs are some of the most important factors influencing selection of material handling equipment. In this study, a decision support system (MHAD) considering these factors for material handling equipment selection is developed. MHAD consists of a database, a rulebased system and multi-attri...

In a state-of-the-art industrial production line of photovoltaic products the handling and automation processes are of particular importance and implication. While processing a fully functional crystalline solar cell an as-cut photovoltaic wafer is subject to numerous repeated handling steps. With respect to stronger requirements in productivity and decreasing rejections due to defects the mech...

Today, the central role of industrial robots in automation in general and in material handling in particular is crystal clear. Based on the current status of Photovoltaics and by focusing on lightweight material handling, PV industry has turned into a potential candidate for introducing a fresh “pick and place” robot technology. Thus, to examine the industry needs in this regard, firstly the be...