Technology in new generations of manufacturing equipment has to support the business strategy of responsiveness to customers in a global manufacturing environment. This means that technologies such as electronics, optics, computing and communications need to be integrated into, not added onto, manufacturing equipment. In a global manufacturing environment, production equipment serves as the precise tools to rapidly deliver customized products. This means that new methodologies and concepts will use these technologies to guarantee availability over time in a variety of environments, possibly providing operating feedback to improve new equipment designs. With a global and distributed work force, detailed technological simulations will use multimedia interfaces, not only for control, but for training operators and capturing their operational knowledge.
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