This study analyses the field of open digital fabrication where novel digital capabilities and hopes for social transformation have merged to form arrangements that seek to democratise knowledge and technology through collaboration. Through qualitative social science the study analyses FabLabs and open source technologies and the respective collective procedures that produce and organise technology and knowledge that redefine the entanglement of our society and its technologies.

Emerging Technologies and Digital Transformation in the Manufacturing Industry offers a comprehensive solution to the pressing challenges faced by the manufacturing industry. As manufacturers grapple with the need to adapt to changing customer expectations and embrace emerging technologies, this book provides a timely and relevant resource. Edited by esteemed scholars, it features high-quality chapters that delve into technology-driven approaches, such as Internet-connected machinery, artificial intelligence, and sensors, with the aim of enhancing efficiency, productivity, and overall performance in manufacturing processes. Covering key topics such as machine learning, blockchain technologies, big data, and the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the book explores transformative concepts like digital twins, extended reality, and the impact of 5G and edge computing. With contributions from authoritative experts, this book serves as an indispensable tool for students, researchers, and IT professionals in manufacturing plants. By offering practical guidance and insights, Emerging Technologies and Digital Transformation in the Manufacturing Industry equips readers with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the complexities of digital transformation and seize the opportunities presented by emerging technologies. It is academic rigor and practical applicability makes it a valuable resource that is poised to have a significant impact on the manufacturing IT community and academic scholars worldwide, enabling a successful journey toward a more efficient and resilient future in the manufacturing industry.

This book introduces the term of TechnoScienceSociety to focus on the ongoing technological reconfigurations of science and society. It aspires to use the breadth of Science and Technology Studies to perform a critical diagnosis of our contemporary culture. Instead of constructing technology as society’s “other”, the book sets out to highlight the both complex and ambivalent entanglements of technologies, sciences and socialities. It provides some tentative steps towards a diagnosis of a society in which individuals and organizations address themselves, their pasts, presents, futures, hopes and problems in technoscientific modes. Technosciences redesign matter, life, self and society. However, they do not operate independently: Technoscientific practices are deeply socially and culturally constituted. The diverse contributions highlight the ongoing technological reconfigurations of rationalities, infrastructures, modes of governance, and publics. The book aims to inspire scholars and students to think and analyze contemporary conditions in new ways drawing on, and expanding, the toolkits of Science and Technology Studies.

With the increasing sophistication of CAD and other design software, there is now a wide array of means for both designing and fabricating architecture and its components. The proliferation of advanced modelling software and hardware has enabled architects and students to conceive and create designs that would be very difficult to do using more traditional methods. The use of CAD technologies in the production of physical models, prototypes and individual elements is increasingly widespread through processes such as CAD/CAM, CNC milling and rapid prototyping. This translation of computer-generated data to physical artefact can also be reversed with devices such as a digitiser, which traces the contours of physical objects directly into the computer. This book focuses on the inspiring possibilities for architecture that can be explored with all the different technologies and techniques available for making complete designs or their components.

Manufacturing, like other industries, is rising to the challenges imposed by aggressive consumer demands and the need for cost-effective processing that delivers quality in the fastest possible time. Fierce competition means that keeping abreast of new developments and applications in technology is essential if companies are to meet demands profitably and keep ahead of competitors. This book investigates the design and management of digital manufacturing and assembly systems for an efficient, flexible, and modular production of customized products using the I40 (industry 4.0)-enabling technologies. This book will also provide case studies covering modeling, simulation, and optimization. eBook includes color figures. Discusses how the advancement of data communication and storage through the Internet of Things (IoT) opens the possibilities of connecting sensors, robots, and devices Sheds light on how the human role in industry is decreasing due to the development of connected manufacturing floors, allowing them to take more control over the manufacturing processes, decisions, and even maintenance Covers the benefits from exploiting digital manufacturing, manufacturing enterprises, and what they expect to achieve Explains the important roles that modeling, simulation, and optimization play Investigates the design and management of digital manufacturing and assembly systems for an efficient, flexible, and modular production of customized products exploiting the I40 (industry 4.0)-enabling technologies

Given that institutions of higher education have a predisposition to compartmentalize and delineate areas of study, creative technology may seem oxymoronic. On the contrary, the very basis of western thought is found in the idea of transcendent knowledge. The marriage of opposing disciplines therefore acts as a more holistic approach to education. Creative Technologies for Multidisciplinary Applications acts as an inspiration to educators and researchers who wish to participate in the future of such multidisciplinary disciplines. Because creative technology encompasses many applications with the realm of art, gaming, the humanities, and digitization, this book features a diverse collection of relevant research for the modern world. It is a pivotal reference publication for educators, students, and researchers in fields related to sociology, technology, and the humanities.

This book brings forth the fundamental understanding of the role of Industry 4.0 technologies in sustainable manufacturing supply chain. Readers will get an overview of the challenges, opportunities, and requirements for the implementation of digital technologies and how they can support manufacturing supply chains to be sustainable. The book presents many applications of Industry 4.0 including integration of IoT, AI, Big Data, Blockchain, Procurement 4.0, Logistics 4.0, and Lean 4.0 in different contexts. The book therefore provides a platform for researchers, academicians, and professionals from diverse backgrounds to gain state-of-the-art knowledge for using Industry 4.0 in sustainable manufacturing supply chains. Readers will also be able to identify the practical significance and opportunities for future work directions.

The digital transition of our economies is now entering a phase of broad and deep societal impact. While there is one overall transition, there are many different sectoral transformations, from health and legal services to tax reports and taxi rides, as well as a rising number of transversal trends and policy issues, from widespread precarious employment and privacy concerns to market monopoly and cybercrime. They all are fertile ground for researchers, as established laws and regulations, organizational structures, business models, value networks and workflow routines are contested and displaced by newer alternatives. This Research Handbook offers a rich and interdisciplinary synthesis of some of the current thinking on the digital transformations underway.

Digital fabrication combines virtual and material worlds; transforming thoughts into things, and things into data. It fosters complex and varied communities while enabling the pursuit of unique individual outputs. Current literature on digital fabrication concentrates on its technical and economic potential, with little attention yet being paid to the fundamental questions of how the technology might affect our understanding of identity, embodiment, or creative processes. Using case studies and experiences gained from ground-breaking fieldwork, "In the Making" explores these processes and their products from both cultural and aesthetic perspectives; with emphasis on its human interactions, not on technology. Embracing the absence of established methodologies in their emerging area of investigation, this volume offers a series of wide-ranging and original interdisciplinary framings which arise from the materials themselves. That very act of imagining, of selecting and committing to an envisaged but not yet physically present product, offers insights into needs and desires. What is the story of that design? How did it come to be? The basic principles of digital fabrication – the transformation from concept to physical entity – offer intriguing possibilities for aesthetic and cultural readings, particularly from the perspectives of disability. Online, open access maker communities mean that anyone with an internet connection and a desktop 3D printer is able to download and print a wide variety of replicable and customisable objects. What might this mean for disabled people? As digital fabrication technologies enter mainstream society, In the making poses urgently applicable questions about presence, existence, and authenticity and begins to suggest how we might explore them.