Progression of Product Manufacturing Technologies

Abstract

The progression of product manufacturing goals and technologies is introduced through summaries of major product manufacturing developments over approximately the past century. The relationships between produced products and the customers who use them are then discussed. At present, the design scale of sophisticated products ranges from the atomic level and nanotechnology realm (billionths of a meter) to global dimensions, but the importance of preserving a central awareness of human scales is emphasized in the discussion. Next, the changes in product manufacturing paradigms that have occurred during the past century are described and the various forces driving this evolution are explained. The discussion also indicates promising directions for future development of product manufacturing features, particularly the concepts, methodologies, and technologies that enable more preferable product manufacturing scenarios.