A workshop is to be held to determine how academic research in the area of manufacturing processes and equipment can be focussed to address issues of national competitiveness. About 35 participants will be invited to attend this workshop. They will be from industry, the active community in academia and the government, with approximately equal representation from the three segments. In a time period when the nation is clearly losing it's ability to compete with it's major trading partners, it is important to bring together various segments of society to jointly address the issue. The need for this is based on the concept that a continued erosion of our industrial infrastructure threatens our way of life.
