Abstract

This is the era of the virtual factory.  The virtual factory or digital manufacturing is a design and manufacturing paradigm that offers feature customization, domain optimization and manufacturing flexibility by harnessing advances in imaging technology, electro-optical engineering, material science and engineering and information technology infrastructure.  The paradigm may be applied towards mass production of custom as well as standard stock consumer products.  The objectives of the digital manufacturing systems are to achieve manufacturing cost reduction, targeted product designs and efficient product life cycle management.  Other collateral advantages include ability to decentralize production to take advantage of low cost centers and to bring final assembly closer to the point of sale.

Digital manufacturing is the bedrock for the next global industrial revolution.  This paradigm shift would have profound impact on prevailing logistics and supply chain concepts and would challenge contemporary global reliance on outsourcing.  This seminar will first outline the trinity of technologies that have made this transition to the virtual factory possible.  In addition, the scope of this new emerging technology will be addressed followed by practical work flow and applications of this technology with particular emphasis to biomedical systems.

Speaker Biography

Fred McBagonluri is the Director of Research and Development and IT at Siemens Hearing Instruments, a subsidiary of Siemens Medical Solutions.  Dr. McBagonluri graduated from Central State University, Wilberforce, OH with a BS Manufacturing Engineering (summa cum laude) in 1996.  He holds MS and Ph.D. from Virginia Tech (1998) and University of Dayton (2005), respectively.  He has published extensively in technical journals, conference proceedings and book chapters and has over 26+ US and European patent applications in the areas of advanced imaging technologies and hearing instruments design.  Dr. McBagonluri is the 2008 recipient of the Black Engineer of the Year: Most Promising Scientist and the NJBiz Healthcare Innovator Hero Awards.

For more information, please contact:

Yingying Chen
Assistant Professor & NIS Graduate Program Director
Burchard
Room 210
Phone: 201.216.8066
Fax: 201.216.8246
yingying.chen@stevens.edu