In the last decade, the production of mechanical components to be assembled in final products produced in high volumes (e.g. cars, mopeds, industrial vehicles, etc.) has undergone deep changes due to the overall modifications in the way companies compete. Companies must consider competitive factors such as short lead times, tight product tolerances, frequent market changes and cost reduction. Anyway, companies often have to define production objectives as trade-offs among these critical factors since it can be difficult to improve all of them.

Even if system flexibility is often...

This book presents selected contributions on a wide range of scientific and technological areas covered by AITeM (the Italian Association of Manufacturing). It discusses the following topics: additive manufacturing, advanced and unconventional machining and processes, material removal processes, foundry and forming, tools and machine tools, assembly/disassembly, joining materials and material properties, quality metrology and material testing, manufacturing systems engineering, sustainable manufacturing, smart manufacturing and cyber-physical systems, education in manufacturing and human...