This award enables the Manufacturing Studies Board to create a fifteen-member committee of university and industry experts in the areas of materials science, industrial and mechanical engineering, and production management. The committee will evaluate the research needs of the key technologies and processes in a three-phase study. The first phase will entail both developing a taxonomy for classifying unit processes (e.g., by physical characteristics, by industry, by product) and examining the characteristics of unit processes across macro-level cross sections of the taxonomy. The second phase will involve developing criteria to determine which unit processes are critical to long- term manufacturing competitiveness. The third and final phase of the study will involve an in-depth analysis of specific critical processes. This two-year study will result in (1) a series of detailed analyses of unit processes and their potential impact on U.S. manufacturing competitiveness and (2) the development of a comprehensive, prioritized, long-term research agenda for the National Science Foundation and the United States manufacturing community in the area of unit processes.
