Despite the huge volume of recent publications devoted to neural network research, there is no single monograph addressing the potential roles of artificial neural networks for design and manufacturing.

The focus of this book is on the applications of neural network concepts and techniques to design and manufacturing. This book reviews the state-of-the-art of the research activities, highlights the recent advances in research and development, and discusses the potential directions and future trends along this stream of research.

The potential readers of this book will include, but are not limited to, beginners, professionals and practitioners in industries who are applying neural networks to design and manufacturing.

The topics include conceptual design, group technology, process planning and scheduling, process monitoring and others.

Contents:

• A Neural Network Approach to Group Technology
• Neuro-Clustering for Group Technology
• A Parallel and Distributed Processing Algorithm for Facility Layout
• Neural Networks in Conceptual Design
• Knowledge Acquisition in Neural Networks and Expert Systems: The Case of Packer Selection in Oil Well Design
• Setup Generation and Feature Sequencing Using an Unsupervised Learning Algorithm
• Scheduling Computation Tasks onto a Multiprocessor System by Mean Field Annealing of a Hopfield Neural Network
• Multi-Functional Neural Networks for System Identification
• Neural network Applications in On-Line Monitoring of a Turning Process
• Neural Adaptive Systems for Machining Errors Modeling