Enabling manufacturing competitiveness and economic sustainability

在全球经济中，像加拿大这样的高成本制造业国家不能仅仅依靠生产率和劳动力成本来竞争。产品和制造方法的创新对于创造财富和保持就业至关重要。这项研究开发了新的方法和解决方案来应对这一挑战。 拟议的研究计划有了新的突破：“受自然界物种共同进化的启发，产品和制造系统的共同进化”。它建立了设计和规划能够共生共同开发的产品和制造系统以应对变化的力量所需的科学基础和方法。它有三个主要推动力，其共同目标是管理制造业的多样性和变革，并使其具有竞争力和经济可持续性。它将开发：1)根据产品设计和制造技术的演变历史规划未来创新方向的新模式；2)使用创新方法捕捉产品和系统的内在联系来设计和合成产品和系统的新方法；3)优化形成动态产品族和平台，以管理制造中增加的多样性。研究成果为产品和系统的发展趋势提供了洞察力，并为规划它们在经济上可持续的未来提供了前瞻性。 研究成果将提高制造生产率，最大限度地提高对不断变化的产品和市场需求的灵活性、适应性和响应性，从而显著增强制造商的全球竞争能力。预期捐款适用于广泛的制造企业，包括汽车部门，并将产生积极的社会经济影响。这一多方面的研究项目将培养许多高素质的人才，他们将获得适用于工业和学术界的独特而有价值的知识和可销售的技能，并将为加拿大经济的创新和基于知识的繁荣做出贡献。

In a global economy, high-cost manufacturing countries like Canada cannot compete just on productivity and labor cost. Innovation in products and manufacturing methods is vitally important to wealth generation and jobs preservation. This research develops novel approaches and solutions to meet this challenge. The proposed research program breaks new grounds: "The Co-evolution of Products and Manufacturing Systems Inspired by Co-evolution of Species in Nature". It establishes the scientific foundation and derives methodologies required to design and plan products and manufacturing systems capable of symbiotic co-development in response to forces of change. It has three main thrusts with the common goal of managing variety and change in manufacturing and enabling its competitiveness and economic sustainability. It will develop: 1) New models for planning future innovation directions for products design and manufacturing technologies informed by their evolution history, 2) Novel approches for the design and synthesis of products and systems using innovative methods for capturing their inherent association, 3) Optimized formation of dynamic products families and platforms to manage increased variety in manufacturing. The research outcomes provide Insight into the evolutionary trends of products and systems and offer Foresight to plan their economically sustainable future. Research results will increase manufacturing productivity and maximize flexibility, adaptability and responsiveness to changing products and market demands, which significantly enhances the ability of manufacturers to compete globally. The expected contributions are applicable to a wide range of manufacturing enterprises, including the automotive sector, and would have a positive socio-economic impact. This multi-facetted research program will train many highly qualified personnel who will gain unique and valuable knowledge and marketable skills applicable in industry and academia, and will contribute to innovation and knowledge-based prosperity in the Canadian economy.