2009

Fox, Stephen

Increasing the sustainability of human enterprises is a global priority. Sustainability involves individuals, organizations and societies meeting their needs and expressing their potential while preserving natural ecosystems. Advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) have the potential to enable sustainable product creation. However, the potential of AMT is currently restricted by the limitations of CAD/CAM systems. Combining AMT with generative computation to develop Generative Production Systems has the potential to overcome the current limitations imposed on AMT by typical CAD/CAM systems. Generative computation automatically produces options that are not stored previously in computer. These options adhere to key requirements, but are unpredictable and involve little, or no, external human input after initial programming. The potential of various types of generative computation to automatically produce designs has been recognized for some years. More recently, it has been proposed that generative computation can be extended from the production of designs to the production of what is described by those designs. This can range from the production of the very large (e.g. buildings) to production of the very small (e.g. micro-electro-mechanical systems). Findings from the research suggest that implementation challenges can be grouped under the four headings of: inherent ambiguity, domain complexity, computational complexity, and software development. Findings also indicate that there are resources available for meeting these challenges. It is argued that application opportunities for Generative Production Systems can include: implementation of Unified Shape Production Languages which can enable the integration of elicitation with design and production; the introduction of new business models such as Factory 2.0; rapid exploration of materials' potential, rapid generation of new product/component styles; and rapid creation of customer-designed products.