IMS Pursues Innovation
in Manufacturing

IMS Vision Forum 2006 to open in Seoul on April 12

About 250 international and Korean leaders and decision makers from industry, research, education and government will get together in Seoul April 12-13 to participate in IMS Vision Forum 2006.
IMS Vision Forum 2006, to be held under the theme, "Direction of Innovation in Manufacturing for the Next-Generation Growth Engines"is being organized by IMS (Intelligent Manufacturing System) International, with an aid of Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, and partially sponsored by Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. IMS is a multinational program for cooperation in the development of manufacturing technologies and systems. Companies and research institutions from 32 countries in seven regions, including Australia, the EU, Norway, Japan, Korea, Switzerland and the United States participate in IMS, proposed by Japan in 1989.
"IMS Vision Forum 2006 will discuss the direction of Innovation in Manufacturing and find out the strategies and roles that IMS Phase II should cope with, which was launched in May 2005 and will continue until April 2015,"said Dr. Choi Byung-Wook, Managing Director of IMS International.
More than 1,000 international institutions, including 700 companies, from the world, participated in IMS Phase I that began in 1995 and finished in 2005, with more than $500 million investments.
The benefits of IMS Phase I follow: providing SMEs with more opportunities to advance to markets and collaborate with large-size corporations: a reduction in R&D outlays individual companies shoulder due to joint research; corporate application and test/appraisal of new technologies; and corporations'securing potential assets outside on top of their own manpower assets.
In Korea, 70-odd institutions, including LG Electronics and Hyundai Motor Co., participated in IMS Phase I with 14.68 billion won investments ― 8.92 billion won from the central government and 5.76 billion won from the private sector.
Korea presented 331 dissertations. Three patents have been registered and three others have begun the application process. Korea participated in IMS as an observer in 1998 and become a full member in 2000. Dr. Rim Kwan, concurrently Executive Adviser of Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, was elected last year to become the first Chairman of International Steering Committee of the IMS Phase II for a 30-month term. IMS Inter-Regional Secretariat is headquartered in Korea, the current IMS chairmanship country.
The first IMS Vision Forum, convened in Irvine, California in the United States in February 2000, identified a concept of "new manufacturing"operating as a service provider industry with new systems of corporate architecture and highly integrated enterprise functions.
The 22nd IMS International Steering Committee Meeting (ISC22) will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Seoul on April 10-April 11.
The forum will be held in conjunction with the 12th Seoul International Machine Tool Show (SIMTOS), to be opened for a six-day run starting on April 12 at Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) in Goyang, north of Seoul.
IMS International Steering Committee Chairman Dr. Rim will deliver opening remarks during the opening session, to be held at the Renaissance Hotel on April 12 at 9 a.m. In the speech, he will speak about "IMS, being the world's only government-supported multi-lateral international program for manufacturing research, has found experts with a clear future vision of social evolution, the global demand for goods, and advanced manufacturing techniques that will be required to deliver those goods for presentations and open group discussions. The forum program will focus on future manufacturing problems that involve different areas of the supply chain including small to large business enterprises that must be solved through global collaboration."In his congratulatory remarks, Kim Jong-kap, vice minister of commerce and industry at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE), will speak "Manufacturing is an integral part of international competitiveness beyond time and space. With regard to this, MOCIE has strengthened policy support designed to develop industrial fields combining the conventional manufacturing industries with IT-related technologies. In particular, the ministry is focusing on development of innovative manufacturing methods, including the ones designed to raise an edge of the overall supply network through collaboration between large- and medium-size enterprises as well as among SMEs."Dr. Kim Key-hyup, president of Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), will say in his congratulatory remark, "The IMS Program is a multilateral collaboration regime designed to study market orientation of production technologies, a common issue facing manufacturing industries across the world in the wake of internationalization and informatization. With the industry community taking the initiative, the program is operated with support from the government of each country and academic circles." SMS Vision Forum 2006 is being held to discuss manufacturing innovations of each country and explore the direction of futuristic manufacturing innovations. I expect the forthcoming forum to serve as a driving force to arrange innovative options of global manufacturing."Prof. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Honorary Chairman of IMS and president of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan, will also deliver congratulatory remarks.
Concept of IMS has originally been conceived by him. Prof. Yoshikawa is called a father of IMS and is expected to touch the past and future of IMS along with his vision in manufacturing.
Four speakers will deliver keynote speeches for the sub-themes: Dr. Song Ji Oh, executive & general manager, of Mechatronics & Manufacturing Technology Centre at Samsung Electronics Co., will speak about Sub-theme one: Next Generation Economic Growth Engines and Manufacturing; Dr. Michiharu Nakamura, executive vice president & executive officer at Hitachi, Ltd, Japan, Sub-theme II: Key Technology for Manufacturing Innovation and Environmental Sustainability; Dr. Rosalie A. Zobel, director of Components and Systems, Information Society and Media DG at the European Commission, Sub-theme III: Global Collaborative Environment for Manufacturing Innovation; R&D Human Resources and Infrastructures; and Prof. George Chryssolouirs, chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics at the University of Patras, Greece and president of CIRP. Sub-theme IV: Education for Next-Generation Manufacturing.
Breakout group discussions for each sub-theme will be held during the Day 1 afternoon-session on April 12. Each of 4 Breakout groups will be composed of group chair, 2 group speakers and 3 to 4 group discussants, respectively, and will examine the sub-theme topics and give their view on future trends. After the trends have been identified, the discussion groups will develop methods to establish or revitalize networks to disseminate the information needed to align industry and IMS strategy to the vision. Recommendations will be made and published by IMS in a manner presentable to governments, industry, and researchers to influence their support and guide direction for future research activities.
Each breakout group chair will present summary presentations on the outcome of sub-theme discussions during the Day 2 morning session on April 13, which will be followed by a panel discussion in the afternoon of the same day. IMS International Steering Committee Chairman Dr. Rim will preside over the panel discussion with four breakout group chairs and six IMS Heads of Delegations.
In the morning of Day 3 Project Meeting will be held at KINTEX April 14. Dan Nagy, Program Director of IMS Inter-Regional Secretariat, will deliver an introduction speech along with recent activities of IMS projects.
Jim Lorenz, manager of Advanced Industrial Engineering at Rockwell Collins, USA, will present concept of "Model Based Enterprise"(MBE) and research results from Next-Generation Manufacturing Systems."(NGMS); Masahide Okamoto, senior researcher of Production Engineering Research Laboratory at Hitachi Ltd, Japan, "Research results from Next Generation Environmental-Friendly Soldering Technology"(EFSOT); Seiji Yokoyama, manager of Engineering Management Office at Minebea Co., "Research Results from Systematization of Quality Engineering and Software Development"(ROBUST); Satoru Ogura, director of R&D Department at IMS Promotion Center, Japan, "Research Results from Digital Die Design System."(3DS).
IMS International Steering Committee Chairman Dr. Rim will present awards to the project representatives for successful completion of IMS-endorsed research.
More presentations will follow in the afternoon of Day 3, which include : "Product Embedded Information System for Service and End-Of-Life"by Markus Frey, manager of Bombardier Transportation, Switzerland; "Future Trends on Embedded Prognostics and Standards for Product Life Cycle Management"by Jay Lee, Professor in Advanced Manufacturing at the University of Cincinnati, USA; "Advanced Manufacturing ― An ICT Perspective"by Prof. Marco Montorio, Politecnico di Milano, Italy; "The Future of RFID: Barriers, Societal and InternationalAspects"by Peter Fatelnig, IST Research Programme, European Commission; "Web Integrated Manufacturing of Molds and Dies"Dr. Ko Keyhoon, Director of Technical Research Center, VMS-Solutions Co. Ltd., Korea; "Eco-Efficient and High Performance Hard Chrome Process"Dr. Kwon Sik-Chol, Principal Researcher, Surface Technology Research Center, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, Korea; "Virtual Heat Treatment Tool for Monitoring and Optimizing HT Process"Prof. Dong-Ying Ju, Dept. of Computer Science, Saitama Institute of Technology, Japan; and "A New Paradigm for Multidisciplinary Automatic Optimal Design of a High-Speed Milling Cutter"Prof. Nand Jha, Mechanical Engineering Department, Manhattan College, USA nw

IMS International Steering Committee Chairman Dr. Rim Kwan

Kim Jong-kap, vice minister of commerce and industry at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE)

Dr. Kim Key-hyup, president of Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH)

Prof. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, honorary chairman of IMS