The overall target is to meet the demands for world class competition. The overall objective is to achieve substantial improvements of product realization processes in industry by systematization, integration and automation of the processes of design, process planning and the control of the activities on the shop floor. As regards the research on process planning and shop floor control, the emphasis is on highly varying, small scale manufacturing. The research and development activities are focused on the design and realization of flexible and effective functioning information systems, decision support tools and control systems for the design, planning and execution of manufacturing processes. Ample use is made of object oriented modelling based on engineering features and relations and constraint based reasoning.
Emphasis is placed on highly automatic, but human centred, decision making and control.
The research activities are based on a thorough knowledge of the primary processes in engineering and on the shop floor. Cost estimation for the purpose of acquisition and design support is also part of the research programme. The Laboratory is only modestly equipped with a few machine tools but with extensive computer facilities. The machine tools are used for process monitoring and the testing of process models. The computer facilities contain appr.