The author describes the predicament of an industry which is coming under increasing pressure in the world market and is seeking new approaches to the challenges arising. Then, by drawing an analogy to the paradigm shift taking place in the natural sciences, he discerns the need for product engineering to similarly cast aside existing deterministic philosophies. Self-similarity, self-organization and dynamics are the principles from which the manufacturing corporation of the future, perceiving its identity as a service enterprise, will draw its models. Constant structural development and the...