Page 122 - Modular design for machine tools

84 Modular Design Guide and Machine Tools Description

General attibutes
Conventional
Dimensional and
types
performance
specifications
Semi-specified attributes
Design Shipping destination- Shipping destination-
oriented types
attributes oriented types

Specified attributes
Region- and racial trait- Culture- and mindset-
specified specifications harmonized types

Additives
Figure 2-11 Tentative definition for design specifications of culture- and mindset-
harmonized machine tools.

Importantly, an underlying hypothesis in the culture of manufactur-
ing is that a technological entity, e.g., system and machine, should con-
sist of two subentities, i.e., those commonly available across the whole
world and at the specified region. As can be readily seen, the culture- and
mindset-harmonized type may be regarded as the most suitable variant
to which to apply the modular principle, and a crucial problem lies in how
to determine the modules in relation to each regional environment. In
this context, Höft [10] has already proposed an idea in her dissertation.
Furthermore, a customized product for the local community is
expected in accordance with the predictive research into the future pro-
duction environment [20–24]. This customized product is, in principle,
a culture- and mindset-harmonized product, and indeed it is available
for the machine tool. In short, it is vital to create the culture- and
mindset-harmonized machine tool with the modular principle.
To this end, a new challenge is recently required of modular design
from the area of process innovation instead of product innovation. This
can be observed in the conventional MC and NC turning machine includ-
ing the TC. In fact, the conventional MC and NC turning machine show
amazing market share across the whole industrial and industrializing
nations to produce, e.g., home appliances, information devices, industrial
equipment, plastic injection molds, automobiles, and so on. Importantly,
the MC and NC turning machines of Japanese make have been very
powerful so far; however, the MC of Korean make has become very com-
petitive recently based on the continued improvement of the related
technology and has compelled the MC of Japanese make to be enhanced