Artículos de revistas sobre el tema "Manufactures Manufacturing industries Manufacturing industries Manufactures Task analysis"

The quantitative reduction of the manufacturing pharmaceutical organizations significantly lowers public accessibility to medicinal preparations manufactured by pharmacies. The aim of this research has is the analysis of the normative legal standards regulating the industrial production and the pharmaceutical manufacture of infusion medicinal preparations in the territory of the Russian Federation. Materials and methods: The research has been carried out by the analysis of the current legislative and normative acts by means of documentary observation and content analysis. Results and discussion. Hereby the review has been done of the main acts along with normativelegal documentation regulating the industrial production and the pharmaceutical manufacture of infusion medicines such as federal laws, regulations of the Government of the Russian Federation, the State Pharmacopeia (Editions XI and XIII), orders of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, etc. It has been established that in the Russian Federation there has been developed and currently functioning the system of mandatory requirements to industrial production and quality control of infusion medicinal preparations produced by manufacturing enterprises. At the same time, despite the restrictions on the pharmaceutical manufacture of the aseptic medicines registered in the Russian Federation, the pharmaceutical organizations implement manufacture of the medicines which are not produced industrially. That makes it possible to provide an individual dosage of ingredients and take into account patients’ individual characteristics. The normative legal regulation system for the pharmaceutical manufacture significantly differs from the similar system for the industrial production. The scientific discussion on the implementation of the international Rules of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) into pharmaceutical activities has not arrived at a unanimous organizational and technological opinion because of essentially different purposes, a diverse range of the undertaken tasks and dissimilar economic opportunities of pharmaceutical organizations and manufacturing enterprises. Conclusion: The currently existing normative legal regulation system for the industrial production and the pharmaceutical manufacture of infusion medicines in the Russian Federation is aimed at providing the national health services’ needs of necessary remedies for infusion therapy. At the same time, the pharmaceutical manufacture does not oppose the industrial production, but quite the contrary, expands public accessibility to such preparations for treatment in emergency or urgent cases and also during routine treatment of patients.

The application of the fused deposition modeling (FDM) additive manufacturing process has increased in the production of functional parts across all industries. FDM is also being introduced for industrial tooling and fixture applications due to its capabilities in building free-form and complex shapes that are otherwise challenging to manufacture by conventional methods. However, there is not yet a comprehensive understanding of how the FDM process parameters impact the mechanical behavior of engineered products, energy consumption, and other physical properties for different material stocks. Acquiring this information is quite a complex task, given the large variety of possible combinations of materials–additive manufacturing machines–slicing software process parameters. In this study, the knowledge gap is filled by using the Taguchi L27 orthogonal array design of experiments to evaluate the impact of five notable FDM process parameters: infill density, infill pattern, layer thickness, print speed, and shell thickness on energy consumption, production time, part weight, dimensional accuracy, hardness, and tensile strength. Signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed on the experimental data to quantify the parameters’ main effects on the responses and establish an optimal combination for the FDM process. The novelty of this work is the simultaneous evaluation of the effects of the FDM process parameters on the quality performances because most studies have considered one or two of the performances alone. The study opens an opportunity for multiobjective function optimization of the FDM process that can be used to effectively minimize resource consumption and production time while maximizing the mechanical and physical characteristics to fit the design requirements of FDM-manufactured products.

AbstractIn practical design work, a designer needs to consider the feasibility of a part for a manufacturing using additive manufacturing (AM) instead of conventional manufacturing (CM) technology. Traditionally and by default parts are assumed to be manufactured using CM and using AM as an alternative need to be justified. AM is currently often a more expensive manufacturing method than CM, but its employment can be justified due to number of reasons: improved part features, faster manufacturing time and lower cost. Improved part features means usually reduced mass or complex shape. However, in low volume production lower manufacturing time and lower part cost may rise to the most important characteristics.In this paper, we present a practical feasibility model, which analyses the added value of using AM for manufacturing. The approach is demonstrated in the paper on four specific parts. They represent real industrial design tasks that are ordered from an engineering office company. These parts were manufactured by Selective Laser Meting (SLM) technology and the original design done for conventional manufacturing is also presented and used for comparison purpose.

Pollution prevention is a concern to numerous industries. Aerospace manufacturers have a new challenge in the technical arena known as life cycle environmental engineering. The Department of Defense (DoD) now incorporates these requirements into its acquisition policies and directives. The focus is to minimize or eliminate the use of hazardous materials throughout the life cycle of future DoD products. This new and emerging technology necessitates that another element be added to the design, manufacturing, testing, and maintenance of DoD products. Aerospace industries must incorporate this task into their business objectives if they are to compete in today's defense marketplace. This paper answers questions concerning DoD directives and explains how companies can develop an approach to meeting these environmental life cycle requirements.

Manual operations feature prominently in the manufacture of many electrical machines. Even though high-volume electrical machine manufacture is dominated by automation, several manufacturing operations continue to involve manual intervention because of the complexity of such operations makes them heavily reliant on high dexterity manual skills and experience. However, quality can be variable due to human involvement. Currently, in order to maintain a high precision of control and required tolerances of the final machine, inspection is performed at various steps during manufacturing and assembly. Detecting a defect at these end-of-line tests can result in significant wasted time and costs due to rework or scrappage. The solution to this problem lies in in-process monitoring particularly for error prone manual operations. This paper presents a literature review of the state-of-the-art available techniques and limitations in process monitoring within the context of electrical machine manufacturing. To quantify the degree of manual activities in process monitoring within electrical machine manufacture, a structured survey of UK based companies was conducted, identifying specific error prone manual processes to target, and gaps in inspection. The survey identified that a significant proportion of activities in electrical machine manufacture are manual, or semi-automated with manual interventions. However, literature review revealed only a limited research in in-process monitoring of manual operations in this area. Finally, two case studies are presented where case study 1 presents a framework for digitisation of a variety of manual manufacturing tasks, and case study 2 demonstrates real-time capture, modelling and analysis of deformable linear objects in electrical machine manufacturing.

Manufacturing processes undergo various transformations based on technological advancements and industry expectations. At initial times, during the period of first Industrial revolution, products were getting manufactured using human capabilities and skills. Then, electrically-driven motors, machines and conveyors were used. Now in the fourth Industrial revolution, Industries are equipped with automation, robots and cyber-physical systems. But adopting such technologies requires a high capital investment which cannot be accommodated by some start-ups. In this research paper, a case of a start-up which manufactures straws and vessel scrubbers in an eco-friendly manner as an initiative towards sustainability has been discussed. The key product of the company is biodegradable straws which are manufactured from coconut leaves through a set of processes. The scope of the research is to develop a labour-intensive process planning model. Managing contemporary issues is a big task for the company because of the dynamic nature of the environment. In this case, the demand for straws changes based on customer preference and accordingly, the manufacturing processes need to be revised. Hence, developing a rigid planning model is not an effective solution, so that, flexible manufacturing process needs to be developed. There is always a scope of improvement towards betterment and optimization in a manufacturing process. It is not necessary that the improvements should lead to drastic results. Japanese manufactures who bring the Toyota Production System (TPS) believe that small improvements in a continual basis will fetch better results in terms of quality, efficiency and lead time reduction. Once the model is developed, areas of improvement to optimize the resources are found out and iterations of process planning model were carried over to improve the efficiency. Through the study, it is found that the development of a flexible process plan is required to compete with the changing business scenarios.

Penelitian ini mengidentifikasi industri unggulan di Jawa Tengah yang mempunyai daya saing. Penelitian ini menggunakan data PDRB Jawa Tengah dan PDB Tahun 2010-2015, Tabel Input Output Jawa Tengah Tahun 2013, serta data Ekspor-Impor Jawa Tengah Tahun 1997-2015. Penelitian ini mengunakan alat analisis Indeks Daya Penyebaran (IDP), Indeks Derajat Kepekaan (IDK) dan Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA). Dari hasil IDP dan IDK terdapat 9 industri unggulan di Jawa Tengah yaitu industri pengolahan dan pengawetan ikan, industri minyak dan lemak, industri penggilingan padi, industri tepung terigu dan tepung lainnya, industri makanan ternak, industri pemintalan, industri tekstil, industri kayu dan bahan bangunan dari kayu, serta industri karet dan barang dari karet. Hanya ada 3 industri yang memiliki daya saing ekspor tinggi yaitu industri dengan IDP>1, IDK>1 dan RCA>1 yang meliputi industri pemintalan, industri tekstil, dan industri kayu dan bahan bangunan dari kayu. Dari penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa sektor industri yang dapat diandalkan untuk meningkatkan pertumbuhan ekonomi melalui ekspor dan memiliki daya saing ekspor yang sangat bagus serta memilki harga jual tinggi yaitu hanya industri pemintalan, industri tekstil, dan industri kayu dan bahan bangunan dari kayu. Maka dari itu sebaiknya kebijakan pemerintah lebih ditekankan pada sektor hulu dan sektor hilir dari industri-industri tersebut. This research identify the leading manufactures in central Java which have the export competitiveness. This study used data of Central Java’s Gross Domestic Regional Product (GDRP) and Gross National Product (GNP) on 2010-2015, Input Output Table on 2013, as well as export-import on 1997-2015. This research rely on Forward Linkage Index (FLI), Backward Linkage Index (BLI) and Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) analysis tools. There are 9 leading manufacturing industries conducted from the result. Those manufactures are processing and preserving fish industry, oils and fats industry, rice milling industry, wheat flour industry, live and fock feeds industry, knitting industry, textile industry, wood and products of wood industry, and rubber and products of rubber industry. Only 3 industries that have the high export competitiveness. These industries have Forward Linkage Index (FLI)>1, Backward Linkage Index (BLI) >1, and RCA>1 consisting knitting industry, textile industry, and wood and products of wood industry. From this study, it can be concluded that the reliable manufacturing sectors to boot the economy growth through exports, having a good export competitiveness as well as high selling prices are those 3 industries. Therefore the emphasize of goverment policy should be on the upstream and down stream sectors of these industries.

Purpose Robot appraisement under various dimensions and directions is a crucial issue in real-time manufacturing scenario. Logistic robots are programable-independent movable devices capable of transporting stuffs in a logistic cycle. The purpose of this paper is to opt for the most economical robot under chains of criteria, which is always considered as a sizzling issue in an industrial domain. Design/methodology/approach The authors proposed a cluster approach, i.e. ratio analysis, reference point analysis and full mutification form, embedded type-2 fuzzy sets with weighted geometric aggregation operator (WGAO) to tackle the elected problem of industrial robot. The motive to use WGAO coupled with type-2 fuzzy sets is to effectively undertake the uncertainty associated with comprehensive information of professionals against defined dimensions. Furthermore, the cluster approach is used to carry out the comparative analysis for evaluating robust scores against candidate robot’s manufacturing firms, considering 59 crucial beneficial and non-beneficial dimensions. A case research study is carried out to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach. Findings The most challenging task in real-time manufacturing scenario is robot selection for a particular industrial application. This problem has become more complex in recent years because of advanced features and facilities that are continuously being incorporated into the robots by different manufacturers. In the past decade, robots have been selected in accordance with cost criteria excluding other beneficial criteria, which results in declined product quality, customer’s expectation, ill productivity, higher deliver time, etc. The proposed research incorporates the aforesaid issues and provides the various important attributes needed to be considered for the optimum evaluation and selection of industrial robots. Research limitations/implications The need for changes in the technological dimensions (speed, productivity, navigation, upgraded product demands, etc.) of robot was encountered as a hardship work for managers to take wise decision dealing with a wide range of availability of robot types and models with distinct features in the manufacturing firms. The presented work aids the managers in taking their decisions effectively while dealing with the aforesaid circumstances. Originality/value The proposed work suggests chains of dimensions (59 crucial beneficial and non-beneficial dimensions) that can be used by managers to measure the economic worth of robot to carry out logistic activities in updated manufacturing environment. The proposed work evolves as an effective cluster approach-embedded type-2 fuzzy sets with WGAO to assess manufacturing firms under availability of low information.

AbstractThis article analyzes the industrial and cultural dynamics of transnational film remakes, focusing on the recent rise of remake rights representatives and the production of comedy remakes for local-language markets. Through the use of in-depth interviews with remake rights representatives and the analysis of primary and secondary sources, we scrutinize the strategies of these players in mediating the production processes of remaking foreign popular films into local-language hits. The article takes on two tasks: First, it dissects the work of the different agents at play in buying and selling remake rights and examines their business models and tactics; second, it looks at the generic contents that these agents are circulating through selected catalogs. In this context, comedy becomes a privileged interface to link diverse national markets and manufacture an ideal of proximity, whereby foreign popular comedies – unknown to local audiences – are remade with a local flavor and presented as ‘new’ national hits.

The implementation of scrap recovery activities has been shown to improve the financial performance of many firms, and this kind of circular economy (CE) is particularly evident in industries with green manufacturing (GM). In this paper, we consider an imperfect multiple-stage production system that manufactures paired products made from mixed materials containing scrap returns, in which the scrap returns are converted from defective products. The feed rates of scrap returns for two products are different, and the product with the higher feed rate is placed in the second order of the process to avoid unlimited accumulation of scrap returns. The proposed problem is formulated as a joint economic order quantity (EOQ) and economic production quantity (EPQ) model aimed at cost minimization. The decision variables of the proposed model include the production run time of two products, order quantity of new material, and the extent of investment in converted equipment. We also prove that the optimal solution exists uniquely and provide an algorithm for the computation of the optimal solution. Finally, a numerical example involving the pulp and paper manufacturing industry is provided to illustrate the solution process, and the results of its sensitivity analysis are also presented to show some managerial implications.

Purpose: At thermal power plants the fly ash (FA) is stored either through dry or wet disposal systems. These storage practices result in different features for fly ashes, such as their interaction with alkalis and hence the potential of zeolite synthesis will be different. With the aim to demonstrate this, it was conducted some investigations to study the physical, chemical, morphological and mineralogical characteristics of the fly ash residues, then were used to synthesis zeolites by a double stage fusion-hydrothermal method. Design/methodology/approach: The raw and converted fly ash samples were characterized with respect to their composition, crystallinity and morphology, by SEM and XRD analysis. The effects of environment conditions and process parameters on the zeolitization process were studied and analysed. Findings: The analysis of these residues showed that dry ash attains a high cation exchange capacity (CEC) and SiO2 /Al2O3 ratios, which is in agreement to the formation of fly ash zeolites as compared to its counterpart. The experimental results indicate that the fusion temperature does not influence on the synthesis mechanism in range of 500-800 (°C) having only an effect of acceleration. The increasing of alkaline activator/fly ash ratio enhances the zeolitization degree. Research limitations/implications: The scientific basis for the issues on the zeolitization characteristics of fly ash and its use to manufacture porous materials calls yet for further elucidation and development. Practical implications: This study helps to establish the superiority of dry ash over wet ash for synthesizing porous materials and their enhanced quantity and quality. Originality/value: A new route for the fly ash use is demonstrated and this can become an unavoidable task for porous material manufacturing, a viable way to manage this industrial waste and to protect the environment.

The research paper considers the existing approaches to defining the essence of clusterization and clusters in foreign economies, and presents the analysis of conditions leading to the emergence and development of industrial clusters. Some practices of forming cluster structures in the developed countries are described. The role of industrial clusters in providing real economic growth and increasing efficiency of production is clarified. It is proved that using the cluster approach in Ukraine is a necessary foundation for a revival of regional manufacturing and thereby ensuring a high level of the national economy’s competitiveness. The aim of the article is to undertake an in-depth study of international concepts and axiomatic doctrines of integration processes on the basis of using the cluster approaches, which may become the foundation of applied research devoted to efficient functioning of industrial associations as a priority of structural modernization and acceleration of innovation and investment growth of the national manufacturing. The cluster approach has emerged from implementing a policy of foreign countries focused on the development of regions. Implementation of clustering in international activities clearly demonstrates its advancement and efficiency. An important factor of improving efficiency is the organizational factor associated with the regional association of manufacturers. The regions in whose territories clusters are formed become leaders in national economies and foreign economic relations. The study of the basic concepts of competition and global practices of business activities allows us to conclude that the theory of cluster mechanisms serves as a basis for establishing more successful firms and economic systems. Cluster systems combine the most effective and interconnected types of economic activity by grouping successfully competing firms that form the leading component of the whole economic system of the state and create competitive positions in the sectoral, national and global markets. The cluster approach, which was originally used to research issues of competitiveness of individual groups of enterprises, subsequently have become applicable in solving a wider range of tasks: the analysis of the competitiveness of the state, region, sector; as a basis of national manufacturing policy; as a basis for the interaction of big and small businesses.

ABSTRACT While DNA microarray analysis is widely accepted as an essential tool for modern biology, its use still eludes many researchers for several reasons, especially when microarrays are not commercially available. In that case, the design, construction, and use of microarrays for a sequenced organism constitute substantial, time-consuming, and expensive tasks. Recently, it has become possible to construct custom microarrays using industrial manufacturing processes, which offer several advantages, including speed of manufacturing, quality control, no up-front setup costs, and need-based microarray ordering. Here, we describe a strategy for designing and validating DNA microarrays manufactured using a commercial process. The 22K microarrays for the solvent producer Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 are based on in situ-synthesized 60-mers employing the Agilent technology. The strategy involves designing a large library of possible oligomer probes for each target (i.e., gene or DNA sequence) and experimentally testing and selecting the best probes for each target. The degenerate C. acetobutylicum strain M5 lacking the pSOL1 megaplasmid (with 178 annotated open reading frames [genes]) was used to estimate the level of probe cross-hybridization in the new microarrays and to establish the minimum intensity for a gene to be considered expressed. Results obtained using this microarray design were consistent with previously reported results from spotted cDNA-based microarrays. The proposed strategy is applicable to any sequenced organism.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research model that can explain customers’ continuance intentions to adopt and use intelligent personal assistants (IPAs). Design/methodology/approach This study proposes and validates a new theoretical model that extends the parasocial relationship (PSR) theory. Partial least squares analysis is employed to test the research model and corresponding hypotheses on data collected from 304 survey samples. Findings Interpersonal attraction (task attraction, social attraction, and physical attraction) and security/privacy risk are important factors affecting the adoption of IPAs. Research limitations/implications First, this is the first empirical study to examine user acceptance of IPAs. Second, to the authors’ knowledge, no research has been conducted to test the role of PSR in the context of IPAs. Third, this study verified the robustness of the proposed model by introducing new antecedents reflecting risk-related attributes, which has not been investigated in prior PSR research. But this study has limitations that future research may address. First, key findings of this research are based only on data from users in the USA. Second, individual differences among the survey respondents were not examined. Practical implications To increase the adoption of IPAs, manufacturers should focus on developing “human-like” and “professional” assistants, in consideration of the important role of PSR and task attraction. R&D should continuously strive to realize artificial intelligence technology advances so that IPAs can better recognize the user’s voice and speak naturally like a person. Collaboration with third-party companies or individual developers is essential in this field, as manufacturers are unable to independently develop applications that support the specific tasks of various industries. It is also necessary to enhance IPA device design and its user interface to enhance physical attraction. Originality/value This study is the first empirical attempt to examine user acceptance of IPAs, as most of the prior literature has concerned analysis of usage patterns or technical features.

In industrial radiography the issue of replacing film detectors with digital ones is becoming increasingly relevant. Also remains unresolved the question of an objective comparison of various radiographic testing (RT). This article presents the results of research, aimed at obtaining a quantitative assessment of RT technology informativeness. In order to construct ROC curves, characterizing the quality of binary classification, using a specific RT technology, there was designed and manufactured a sample test, containing a simulation of the most difficult to detect by RK results (U-shaped grooves 0.1 mm wide and various depths) randomly distributed discontinuities. Such test sample was made using additive technology. Developed manufacturing technology made it possible to ensure sufficient accuracy of linear dimensions, taking into account the product’s design features. After exposure of test object to various detectors, there was a decoding procedure, conducted by experts, whose task was to establish the presence / absence of a defect in analyzed element of the image. Applying such technique, used in results analysis of deciphering the images of sample test, made it possible to minimize the influence of human factor and obtain ROC curves, reflecting the capabilities of RT technology only. The subsequent determination of ROC curves parameters allows to conduct a comparative analysis of informativeness of the technologies under consideration. The example of comparison between detectors Agfa D4 and Agfa D7, given in article’s conclusion, demonstrates the possibilities of presented technique.

The paper is devoted to an optimization approach to a problem of statistical modeling of mechanical properties of heavy steel plates during a real industrial manufacturing process. The approach enables the manufacturer to attain a specific set of the final product properties by optimizing the alloying composition within the grade specifications. Because this composition has to stay in the agreement with earlier indicated specifications, it leads to the large system of linear constraints, and the problem itself can be expressed in the form of linear programming (LP) task. It turns out however, that certain of the constraints contain the coefficients which have to be estimated on the base of the data gathered in the production process and as such they are uncertain. Consequently, the initial optimization task should be modeled as so-called Chance Constrained Programming problem (CCP), which is a special class within the stochastic programming problems. The paper presents mathematical models of the optimization problem that result from both approaches and indicates differences which are important for the decision makers in the production practice. Some examples illustrating the differences in solutions resulting from LP and CCP models are presented as well. Although the statistical analysis presented in this paper is based on the data gathered in the ISD Czestochowa Steelworks, the proposed approach can be adopted in any other process of steel production.

AbstractThe enzymatic conversion of sucrose to fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) catalyzed by Pectinex Ultra SP-L, a commercial enzyme preparation from Aspergillus aculeatus, under free condition was studied. A mathematical analysis of the transfructosylation reactions was carried out to estimate the dynamic and steady-state performance of an enzyme membrane reactor (EMR) and to compare the continuous production scheme with the traditional batch process realized in stirred-tank reactor (STR). Kinetic parameters were identified simultaneously from a series of progress curves obtained from STR and EMR experimental runs. Model estimates appeared to fit well to experimental observations under the studied reaction conditions. Although conventional batch reactor outperforms EMR in terms of conversion, EMR compares favorably regarding productivity. The on-site industrial implementation of this technology might be attractive for food manufacturers aiming at utilizing a value-added sweetener mixture with prebiotic properties.

A hydraulically actuated sampling valve is developed for the sub-sea situ pore-water and bottom seawater sampler. A unique pressure compensation design for the valve core is adopted in the sampling valve, which makes the sampling valve open or closure reliably under high pressure. Based on the developed sampling valve, a fluid sampler is manufactured, which includes three collecting bottles, one equilibrium bottle, one negative pressure bottle, one sampling valve, and a set of control unit. The simulation model of the developed sampler is established for the whole sampling process using the AMESim, and the dynamic and static characteristics of the sampling valve, check valve in the collecting bottle, negative pressure bottle are obtained numerically. And then, the simulation tests of the sampling valve are conducted at the simulated high pressure tank of 45 MPa. The developed sampling valve and sampler have been applied on the sub-sea situ pore-water and bottom seawater sampling system and tested at the situ pore-water and bottom seawater, which could also be widely used in marine and offshore oil and gas environmental investigation. This research will lay the foundation for the development of undersea tools for nature gas hydrate survey.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to carry out a tolerance analysis with geometric tolerances by means of the Jacobian model. Tolerance analysis is an important task to design and to manufacture high-precision mechanical assemblies; it has received considerable attention by the literature. The Jacobian model is one of the methods proposed by the literature for tolerance analysis. The Jacobian model cannot deal with geometric tolerances for mechanical assemblies. The geometric tolerances may not be neglected for assemblies, as they significantly influence their functional requirements. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents how it is possible to deal with geometric tolerances when a tolerance analysis is carried out by means of a Jacobian model for a 2D and 3D assemblies for which the geometric tolerances applied to the components involve only translational deviations. The three proposed approaches modify the expression of the stack-up function to overcome the shortage of Jacobian model that the geometric error cannot be processed. Findings – The proposed approach has been applied to a case study. The results of the case study show how, when a statistical approach is implemented, the Jacobian model with the three developed methods gives results very similar to those due to other models of the literature, such as vector loop and variational. Research limitations/implications – In particular, the proposed approach may be applied only when the applied geometrical tolerances involve translational variations in 3D assemblies. Practical implications – Tolerance analysis is a valid tool to foresee geometric interferences among the components of an assembly before getting the physical assembly. It involves a decrease of the manufacturing costs. Originality/value – The original contribution of the paper is due to three methods to make a Jacobian model able to consider form and geometric deviations.

AbstractLocally adapted properties within a machine component offer opportunities to increase the performance of a component by using high strenght materials where they are needed. The economic production of such hybrid components on the other hand represents a major challenge. The new tailored forming process chain, which is developed within the collaborative research center (CRC 1153) represents a possible solution to produce hybrid components. This is made possible by the use of pre-joined hybrid semi-finished products made from two different steel alloys, which are subsequently formed. The semi-finished products can be manufactured for example by means of deposition welding. Due to a thermal mechanical treatment, an overall higher component strength of the joining zone can be achieved. The deposition welding processes can be used to generate a cladding on a base material. During the welding, one of the most difficult tasks is to reduce the amount and size of pores in the joining zone. These pores can reduce the strength in the joining zone of the welded parts. However, additional pores can occur in the intermediate zone between the substrate and the cladding. In the presented study, the influence of the forming process on the closing of pores in the cladding and in the intermediate zone was investigated. Therefore, cylindrical specimen were extracted in longitudinal direction of the welding track by wire-cut eroding. These welding tracks are manufactured by plasma-transferred arc welding of AISI 52100 on a base plate made of AISI 1015. Further, specimens were prepared transversely, so that the base material, the intermediate layer, and the welded material are axially arranged in the specimen. The prepared specimen were checked for pores by means of scanning acoustic microscopy. Subsequently, an uniaxial compression test was carried out with various degrees of deformation and the two specimen designs were examined again for pores. A microstructure analysis was carried out after each step. The investigations show that there is a need for a minimum degree of deformation to reduce pores in the welded material. However, this required plastic strain cannot be achieved in the welded material of the hybrid specimen, which is a result of the homogeneous temperature distribution in the specimen. The homogeneous temperature distribution leads to different flow properties in the specimen, which means that the main plastic deformation is taking place in the base material.

A CAD assembly model is a collection of components, comprised recursively of various levels of individual parts and sub-assembly models. Although the overall geometry in the CAD assembly model accurately represents the final finished product, this model is often meaningless from a manufacturing planning and simulation point of view. The grouping of the components into sub-assemblies and the assembly sequence implied by the CAD model does not accurately represent the manufacturing/assembly sequence or process. Reordering, regrouping, and modifying existing sub-assemblies, or creating new sub-assemblies in the CAD model may be needed to ensure this correspondence for simulation or assembly planning tools that derive the manufacturing sequence directly from the CAD system. Although this task can be performed using the existing functionality of the CAD system, it quickly becomes unwieldy for large industry-grade models due to the assembly constraints and relationships in place during the model creation. In industry today, there are several digital mockup and assembly planning tools that greatly outstrip the ability of CAD systems in loading complete models and creating assembly plans. Methods to organize the CAD model assembly quickly and easily for use in these systems, and to record the “as manufactured” assembly in the CAD data format are needed to close the loop and ease the transfer, storage, and maintenance of model data between the CAD systems, PDM systems, and these new age planning and mockup systems. In this paper, a new hybrid method is proposed to provide this functionality. Of key significance is the fact that using this approach, polygonal representations of any new or modified sub-assemblies designated in the reorganized hierarchy can be produced and that the original constraints used in the original assembly are transformed in a consistent manner to the new components. In addition, corresponding property files for the new components can be created for use in the assembly planning tool. In order to validate this hybrid approach, the time required to rearrange the assembly hierarchy and output the required information using both methods are compared–1) the traditional method using the CAD system alone, and 2) the new hybrid system. A statistical analysis using three treatment factors indicates that if the number of components is more than 15, then it is far more efficient to use the hybrid method over the CAD system by itself. This hybrid method implementation has now been used very successfully in virtual assembly simulations of many industry models, some with several hundred components, provided by various industry partners.

The new developed metal/composite co-cured material composed of carbon fiber–reinforced plastic and Al phases has been increasingly applied for manufacturing of attitude control flywheel in aerospace industry. However, drilling of co-cured material is still a challenging task to produce holes with high quality and low cost in the assembly chain and dynamic balance debugging of attitude control flywheel. In other words, the relevant mechanisms and experimental findings involved in the drilling process of carbon fiber–reinforced plastic/Al co-cured material is not clearly defined, which impedes the progress of attitude control flywheel production. To this end, this article specially addresses the experimental studies on the drilling process of carbon fiber–reinforced plastic/Al co-cured material with standard TiAlN-coated cemented carbide twist drill. The significance of this work aims to reveal the regardful cutting responses of the hole characteristics and tool wear modes during the practical drilling process of co-cured material. A full factorial experiment including three levels of feed rate and four levels of cutting speed was performed. The hole diameter shows different values in different positions while it indicates consistent pattern regardless of the cutting variables: the largest in the Al phase, followed by the upper and lower carbon fiber–reinforced plastic phases, respectively. Grooves and matrix degradation are the major machining defects for carbon fiber–reinforced plastic layers, while a great chip debris adhered to the machined surface is the case for Al layer. Subsequent wear analysis showed that abrasion was mainly maintained at the vicinity of major/minor cutting edges and drill edge corner, followed by chip adhesion on the chisel edge region. Carbide substrate of drill flank face is exposed, and thereafter cavities are formed under the strong mechanical abrasion. These results could provide several implications for industrial manufacturers during the attitude control flywheel production.

Small-size cutting inserts for assembly cutters are widely used to manufacture a variety of parts for the aerospace, automotive and mechanical engineering industries. Due to their high hardness and chemical stability, cutting Al2O3-TiC ceramics significantly outperform hard alloys in machining heat-resistant and difficult-to-machine materials. However, grinding on CNC machines, the most common technology for manufacturing ceramic inserts, is associated with numerous issues when it comes to manufacturing small-size cutting inserts. For example, high cutting forces and high grinding wheel wear rates cause a rapid loss of dimensional accuracy and deterioration of the quality of the surface being machined, while the interference of the grinding wheel with the surface being treated imposes serious limitations on the geometry of the small-size ceramic inserts to be grinded. Here we show that Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM), which is a contactless and, thus, a more flexible method in terms of the size and geometrical properties of a workpiece to be machined, can be used as a replacement for grinding operations in machining small ceramic inserts. A composite of 70% aluminum oxide and 30% titanium carbide was chosen as a ceramic material because a further increase in the TiC fraction causes a marked decrease in wear resistance, while its decrease results in an undesirable loss of electrical conductivity. While in order to replace grinding with WEDM, WEDM has to be stable in the sense of occurring without frequent wire breakages, achieving WEDM stability is not an easy task due to the low electrical conductivity of Al2O3-TiC ceramics and high operational temperatures, which promote the diffusion of dielectric and electrode products in the surface layer of the cutting inserts being machined. These factors may lower the quality of the final product due to damage to the insert surface, marked increases in the roughness RA and in diffusion in the surface layer, which increases the friction coefficient and, hence, reduces the life of the manufactured cutting inserts. We have increased stability of the WEDM process by identifying and applying rational process conditions that lead to a reduced, by a factor of 2.63, roughness Ra and also a reduced, by a factor of 1.3, depth of craters. Performing a chemical and structural analysis, we found that the application of high energies combined with an increasing interelectrode gap (IG) (technological parameter SSol, a complex indicator that determines the speed of the wire electrode depending on the number of pulses per unit of time and the IG size, is set at 80, EDM3 technology) causes increased surface damage and contamination, while a small IG (SSol = 45, EDM1 technology) reduces the material removal rate due to contamination of the working zone between the surface being machined and the electrodes. After reducing the IG by lowering SSol from 80 to 45, the roughness Ra of 0.344 µm was achieved, which allows for replacing grinding operations with WEDM in machining hardening chamfers, front surfaces and, to a lesser degree, the rear and support surfaces of cutting inserts. In this case, when the IG is reduced to SSol = 45, the electroerosion products in the dielectric promote local breakdowns, which in turn produce a large number of deep craters which adversely affect the performance of cutting inserts. However, we found that a slight increase in SSol from 45 to 55 (EDM3 technology) significantly reduces the number of craters and lowers their depth from 50 μm to 37 μm. Although in this case the roughness grows to 0.534 μm due to increased discharge energy, the improved flushing of the IG and the reduced occurrence of local high-temperature breakdowns—evidenced by a decrease in the depth and number of deep craters formed due to current localization during short circuits—significantly reduced contamination of the surface layer and the crater formation rate. Therefore, WEDM can be recommended for use in machining reinforcing chamfers and, to a lesser degree, front surfaces. These considerations lead us to conclude that WEDM is a viable alternative to grinding in machining Al2O3-TiC ceramic cutting inserts of a small size and a complex shape, and that its application to manufacturing cutting inserts from poorly conductive cutting ceramics should be studied further.

Purpose This paper aims to describe the application of several Six Sigma tools to explain the improvement changes needed in a company that manufactures concrete blocks. The paper explains the methodology and the tools of the Six Sigma system, their use in the project, the application of the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) process for the identification and definition of the problems, the related performance variables and the results obtained. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports the research made to improve the production of concrete blocks, specifically, the application of the DMAIC process, which is part of the Six Sigma methodologies; DMAIC stands for Definition of the problem, Measurement of the performance, Analysis using specific statistical methods and tools, Improvement the factors that cause the problem and Control the processes to ensure that the problem will not occur again. Each of those steps is explained in detail in the paper, which also presents the application of other improvement techniques. Findings The results show the adaptability and relevance of Six Sigma for the improvement of production operations. It is clearly demonstrated that it leads to benefits such as the elimination of machine downtime, reduction of scrap from 18 to 2 per cent and the improvements made in plant layout and production facilities to increase the productivity. Research limitations/implications In improvement projects, the differential between the initial and final conditions varies, depending on the magnitude of the problems or potential opportunities. Although this paper describes only the application of Six Sigma, the methodology has a wide potential application in most manufacturing industries. Practical implications With the Six Sigma and DMAIC tools’ application and the improvement process, the agility obtained is driving a more mechanized perspective of production operations. The customer service level was increased, through fast deliveries of complete orders. This project shows that the application of the Six Sigma methodology is feasible and produces attractive financial and operational results in this segment of the construction industry. Originality/value The companies dedicated to the production of concrete blocks commonly reproduce the systems and standards of the industry, which are commonly designed around civil engineering and technical issues. Thus, the application of improvement tools is exceptional in manufacturing environments. Although this paper is just one application of the methodology, it explains in detail the DMAIC use for companies that are committed to the development of new competencies to increase their competitiveness.

In this study, we examined a tank container for foodstuff that is generally used for the transport of foodstuffs. With the aid of the “ANSYS R17.0” program code, a numerical model of the tank container for foodstuffs was realized. Further, to validate the considered model, the tank container considered was submitted to the most important ISO tests concerning both its support frame and the tank. The results obtained from the FEM analysis, in terms of displacement for each test, were compared with those provided by the manufacturer and related to the tank container considered, evaluating the difference between the numerical results with the experimental ones. This allowed us to validate the model examined. Furthermore, the results obtained from each test, in terms of stress, have made it possible to locate the areas with the highest equivalent stress and quantify the maximum value, comparing it with the allowable stress. In this way, a better understanding of the structure was achieved, and it was detected that the most stressed area is that of the connections between the container and the frame. Furthermore, modal analysis was carried out, in which the natural frequencies relating to the most dangerous modes of vibrations were found, that is, with the lowest frequency values. Finally, changes for the considered tank container were examined, and it was found that, by changing parameters, such as the thickness of the plate and skirt, and subsequently acting on the arrangement of the corner supports, the highest value of the stresses generated by the loads related to the ISO tests, it is significantly lowered, resulting in a better distributed stiffening of the structure and a reduction, although minimal, of weight. It is evident that this modeling and validation method, suitably integrated by further calculation modules, can be used in an iterative optimization process.

Введение. Условия функционирования промышленных режимных предприятий характеризуются ограниченностью ресурсов, усложнением конструктивных особенностей выпускаемой продукции, быстроменяющимися предпочтениями потребителей и высокой конкуренцией со стороны импортных аналогов. Вследствие чего удержание лидирующих позиций достигается путем снижения себестоимости производимой продукции при сохранении надлежащего качества выпускаемых изделий. Эти вопросы решаются путем организации эффективного управления затратами на режимных предприятиях. Формирование затрат режимных объектов имеет ряд особенностей, для понимания которых в статье дается определение терминам «режимное предприятие», «управление затратами», рассматриваются особенности статей калькуляции для режимных предприятий. Данные и методы. Авторами рассматривается понятие управления затратами, уточняется понятие затрат применительно к выбранной теме исследования. Выделяется ряд особенностей затрат режимного предприятия, которые должны быть учтены при формировании системы управления затратами. Предлагаются инструменты и механизм уменьшения затрат, образующие в совокупности предпосылки формирования системы управления затратами на режимных промышленных предприятиях. Рассматриваются результаты применения метода анализа иерархий для выявления резервов сокращения затрат на производство продукции, в рамках функционирования предложенного в работе организационно-экономического механизма снижения затрат на исследуемом в статье режимном предприятии. Полученные результаты. Для эффективного функционирования организационно-экономического механизма снижения затрат на режимном предприятии должна быть создана система ключевых инструментов, позволяющих своевременно принимать обоснованные решения по снижению затрат на производство продукции. Перечисленные в работе инструменты снижения затрат эффективны в комплексном применении. В свою очередь, их использование в совокупности с принципами бережливого производства способствует повышению конкурентоспособности и финансовых результатов. Комплексное применение рассмотренного в статье организационно-экономического механизма, инструментов управления затратами и методов бережливого производства открывает перспективы для разработки системы управления затратами на режимном промышленном предприятии. Заключение. Необходимость разработки системы управления затратами является закономерным процессом на фоне обострения международной конкуренции, в особенности, учитывая переход данной конкуренции в военно-политическую плоскость. Эффективное управление затратами на режимных предприятиях будет способствовать решению актуальных в настоящее время задач повышения конкурентоспособности отечественной продукции и создания импортозамещающих производств. Introduction The conditions of the design features of the products, the rapidly changing preferences of consumers and high competition from imported analogs. As a result, maintaining a leading position is achieved by reducing the cost of manufactured products while maintaining the proper quality of products. These issues are addressed through the organization of effective cost management at secure enterprises. The formation of the costs of secure facilities has a number of features, for the understanding of which the article defines the terms “secure enterprise”, “cost management”, considers the features of calculation items for secure enterprises. Data and methods. The authors consider the concept of cost management, clarify the concept of costs in relation to the selected research topic. A number of features of the costs of a regime enterprise are highlighted, which must be taken into account when forming a cost management system. Instruments and a mechanism for reducing costs are proposed, which together form the prerequisites for the formation of a cost management system at secure industrial enterprises. The article discusses the results of applying the method of analysis of hierarchies to identify reserves for reducing the costs of manufacturing products, within the framework of the functioning of the organizational and economic mechanism of cost reduction proposed in the work at the regime enterprise investigated in the article. Results. For the effective functioning of the organizational and economic mechanism for reducing costs at a regime enterprise, a system of key tools should be created that allow making timely informed decisions to reduce the costs of manufacturing products. The cost reduction tools listed in the work are effective in complex application. In turn, their use in conjunction with the principles of lean production contributes to increased competitiveness and financial results. The complex application of the organizational and economic mechanism considered in the article, cost management tools and lean production methods opens up prospects for the development of a cost management system at a regime industrial enterprise. Conclusion. The need to develop a cost management system is a natural process against the background of heightened international competition, especially given the transition of this competition to the military-political plane. Effective cost management at secure enterprises will contribute to solving the currently urgent tasks of increasing the competitiveness of domestic products and creating import-substituting industries.

Building intelligent systems has been one of the great challenges since the early days of human culture. From the second half of the 18th century, two revolutionary changes played the key role in technical development, hence in creating engineering and intelligent engineering systems. The industrial revolution was made possible through technical advances, and muscle power was replaced by machine power. The information revolution of our time, in turn, canbe characterized as the replacement of brain power by machine intelligence. The technique used to build engineering systems and replace muscle power can be termed "Hard Automation"1) and deals with industrial processes that are fixed and repetitive in nature. In hard automation, the system configuration and the operations are fixed and cannot be changed without considerable down-time and cost. It can be used, however, particularly in applications calling for fast, accurate operation, when manufacturing large batches of the same product. The "intelligent" area of automation is "Soft Automation," which involves the flexible, intelligent operation of an automated process. In flexible automation, the task is programmable and a work cell must be reconfigured quickly to accommodate a product change. It is particularly suitable for plant environments in which a variety of products is manufactured in small batches. Processes in flexible automation may have unexpected or previously unknown conditions, and would require a certain degree of "machine" intelligence to handle them.The term machine intelligence has been changing with time and is machinespecific, so intelligence in this context still remains more or less a mysterious phenomenon. Following Prof. Lotfi A. Zadeh,2) we consider a system intelligent if it has a high machine intelligence quotient (MIQ). As Prof. Zadeh stated, "MIQ is a measure of intelligence of man-made systems," and can be characterized by its well defined dimensions, such as planning, decision making, problem solving, learning reasoning, natural language understanding, speech recognition, handwriting recognition, pattern recognition, diagnostics, and execution of high level instructions.Engineering practice often involves complex systems having multiple variable and multiple parameter models, sometimes with nonlinear coupling. The conventional approaches for understanding and predicting the behavior of such systems based on analytical techniques can prove to be inadequate, even at the initial stages of setting up an appropriate mathematical model. The computational environment used in such an analytical approach is sometimes too categoric and inflexible in order to cope with the intricacy and complexity of real-world industrial systems. It turns out that, in dealing with such systems, one must face a high degree of uncertainty and tolerate great imprecision. Trying to increase precision can be very costly.In the face of the difficulties above, Prof. Zadeh proposes a different approach for Machine Intelligence. He separates Hard Computing techniques based Artificial Intelligence from Soft Computing techniques based Computational Intelligence.•Hard computing is oriented toward the analysis and design of physical processes and systems, and is characterized by precision, formality, and categorization. It is based on binary logic, crisp systems, numerical analysis, probability theory, differential equations, functional analysis, mathematical programming approximation theory, and crisp software.•Soft computing is oriented toward the analysis and design of intelligent systems. It is based on fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, and probabilistic reasoning, including genetic algorithms, chaos theory, and parts of machine learning, and is characterized by approximation and dispositionality.In hard computing, imprecision and uncertainty are undesirable properties. In soft computing, the tolerance for imprecision and uncertainty is exploited to achieve an acceptable solution at low cost, tractability, and a high MIQ. Prof. Zadeh argues that soft rather than hard computing should be viewed as the foundation of real machine intelligence. A center has been established - the Berkeley Initiative for Soft Computing (BISC) - and he directs it at the University of California, Berkeley. BISC devotes its activities to this concept.3) Soft computing, as he explains2),•is a consortium of methodologies providing a foundation for the conception and design of intelligent systems,•is aimed at formalizing of the remarkable human ability to make rational decision in an uncertain, imprecise environment.The guiding principle of soft computing, given by Prof. Zadeh2) is: Exploit the tolerance for imprecision, uncertainty, and partial truth to achieve tractability, robustness, low solution cost, and better rapport with reality.Fuzzy logic is mainly concerned with imprecision and approximate reasoning, neurocomputing mainly with learning and curve fitting, genetic computation mainly with searching and optimization and probabilistic reasoning mainly with uncertainty and propagation of belief. The constituents of soft computing are complementary rather than competitive. Experience gained over the past decade indicates that it can be more effective to use them combined, rather than exclusively.Based on this approach, machine intelligence, including artificial intelligence and computational intelligence (soft computing techniques) is one pillar of Intelligent Engineering Systems. Hundreds of new results in this area are published in journals and international conference proceedings. One such conference, organized in Budapest, Hungary, on September 15-17, 1997, was titled'IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Engineering Systems 1997' (INES'97), sponsored by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, IEEE Hungary Section, Bá{a}nki Doná{a}t Polytechnic, Hungary, National Committee for Technological Development, Hungary, and in technical cooperation with the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society. It had around 100 participants from 29 countries. This special issue features papers selected from those papers presented during the conference. It should be pointed out that these papers are revised and expanded versions of those presented.The first paper discusses an intelligent control system of an automated guided vehicle used in container terminals. Container terminals, as the center of cargo transportation, play a key role in everyday cargo handling. Learning control has been applied to maintaining the vehicle's course and enabling it to stop at a designatedlocation. Speed control uses conventional control. System performance system was evaluated by simulation, and performance tests slated for a test vehicle.The second paper presents a real-time camera-based system designed for gaze tracking focused on human-computer communication. The objective was to equip computer systems with a tool that provides visual information about the user. The system detects the user's presence, then locates and tracks the face, nose and both eyes. Detection is enabled by combining image processing techniques and pattern recognition.The third paper discusses the application of soft computing techniques to solve modeling and control problems in system engineering. After the design of classical PID and fuzzy PID controllers for nonlinear systems with an approximately known dynamic model, the neural control of a SCARA robot is considered. Fuzzy control is discussed for a special class of MIMO nonlinear systems and the method of Wang generalized for such systems.The next paper describes fuzzy and neural network algorithms for word frequency prediction in document filtering. The two techniques presented are compared and an alternative neural network algoritm discussed.The fifth paper highlights the theory of common-sense knowledge in representation and reasoning. A connectionist model is proposed for common-sense knowledge representation and reasoning, and experimental results using this method presented.The next paper introduces an expert consulting system that employs software agents to manage distributed knowledge sources. These individual software agents solve users' problems either by themselves or thorough mutual cooperation.The last paper presents a methodology for creating and applying a generic manufacturing process model for mechanical parts. Based on the product model and other up-to-date approaches, the proposed model involves all possible manufacturing process variants for a cluster of manufacturing tasks. The application involves a four-level model structure and Petri net representation of manufacturing process entities. Creation and evaluation of model entities and representation of the knowledge built in the shape and manufacturing process models are emphasised. The proposed process model is applied in manufacturing process planning and production scheduling.References:1) C. W. De Silva, "Automation Intelligence," Engineering Application of Artificial Intelligence, 7-5, 471-477, (1994).2) L. A. Zadeh, "Fuzzy Logic, Neural Networks and Soft Computing," NATO Advanced Studies Institute on Soft Computing and Its Application, Antalya, Turkey, (1996).3) L. A. Zadeh, "Berkeley Initiative_in Soft Computing," IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Newsletter. 41-3, 8-10, (1994).

Methods for studying thermoelectric parameters of semiconductors that are optimal for the implementation of software and hardware have been analyzed and selected. It is based on the Harman method and its modifications, adapted for pulse measurements, which are convenient to implement on a modern element base. An important advantage of these methods is the absence of the need for accurate measurements of heat fluxes, which greatly simplifies and reduces the time for conducting experimental research. The required operating ranges for the voltage 10 µV–1 V, for the current 10 µA–300 mA and the element base performance at the processing level of 40–200 million samples per second have been determined. Structural and electrical circuits, as well as software for a specialized computer system for studying thermoelectric parameters of both bulk and thin-film thermoelectric materials, and express analysis of the operational characteristics of finished modules have been developed. It has been shown that the proposed scheme copes well with the task. And the use of FPGA and 32-bit microcontrollers provide sufficient processing speed up to 200 MSPS and the necessary synchronization modes for the implementation of the Harman pulse method even when studying films of nanometer thickness. Experimental studies of both bulk thermoelectric modules based on Bi2Te3 and thin-film thermoelectric material based on PbTe have been carried out. The effectiveness of the developed tools and techniques has been shown, which made it possible to more than halve the time for sample preparation and experiment. Based on the presented models, all the main thermoelectric and operational parameters have been determined, in particular, electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, thermoelectric figure of merit. As a result of the development of specialized computer tools, it was possible to reduce the labor intensity of the process of measuring the main electrical and operational parameters of semiconductor thermoelectric materials and energy conversion modules based on them, as well as to automate the process of defects identification of thermoelectric modules. The labor intensity of the research process has decreased not only due to the automation of the measurement process, but also due to an optimized technique that allows research on a sample of one configuration, since the manufacture and preparation of samples are the most laborious

Urgency of the research. More complex robotic systems are characterized by a certain degree of intelligent behavior where, based on input, the system is able to adapt its behavior. The implementation of elements that support intelligent behavior in robotic systems, especially those based on the image of devices, is becoming common practice. The reason is simple, such a system is faster and more accurate. Target setting. Creating machine vision, however, is a complex problem, especially when it comes to applications with non-standard requirements. For each task, the vision system needs to be adapted to the conditions and requirements of the monitored objects. Other image adjustments and algorithms need to be applied to static objects rather than moving objects. Two-dimensional image information is sufficient for some manufacturing process, while others require a third dimension to remove a given piece from a disordered pile. Creating an intelligent robotic cell with a camera system therefore requires the creation of a vision system that meets the specified requirements. This is where space is open, because there are many different procedures and principles to deal with, but not all are equally effective and reliable. Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. Many of the image processing methods can be combined with each other, or a new, better way to solve the problem can be developed using the approaches already known. Adding to this fact non-standard requirements profiled in practice, there is an undeniable reason why it is appropriate to deal with image processing for industrial use. Uninvestigated parts of general matters defining are designing and create a robotic cell, whose activity will be controlled on the basis of image perception obtained by digital camera. The research objective of this article is to design and create a robotic cell, whose activity will be controlled on the basis of image perception obtained by digital camera. The obtained image will be subjected to suitable image processing algorithms which will result in the generation of control instructions for controlling the manipulator movement. The statement of basic materials. The work deals with the design of a robotic cell whose task is to manipulate sample objects placed on the conveyor belt by means of a parallel manipulation robot based on image perception. The main part of the design is the creation of control software, which in the first level ensures the proper functioning of the individual components and in the second level their mutual cooperation, which ensures the performance of the required functionality of the robotic system as a whole. Created software runs on Windows 7 operating system, where it offers a simple tool to control the movement of the arms of a parallel robot without using other control means. This means that the robot's movements can be controlled directly from the control program, allowing the robot and object to be manipulated even in manual mode. The image obtained by the camera can be adjusted by software using the implemented tools before the automatic manipulation begins, allowing the user to set the correct input parameters to ensure reliable object identification. Conclusions. In order to design a robotic system whose operation is controlled on the basis of visual perception, it was necessary to acquire theoretical knowledge for the correct selection of individual components of the system as well as their correct placement within the robotic cell. Great emphasis was placed on suitable and economical selection of the sensing device and the way of illuminating the scanned objects. In order to obtain the camera image it was also necessary to study and understand the principle of working with the image captured by the camera via SDK issued directly by the camera manufacturer. However, obtaining an image was only the first step to start the image processing process. In order to extract the necessary data from the obtained image and then to create control instructions from the data for controlling the robot, it was necessary to study and learn in detail the individual steps and procedures of image processing. In the part of the work dealing with image processing the acquired knowledge was applied to the processing process itself, but not only known approaches were used. Owing to the reduction of CPU load and consequently shortening of the calculation process, own procedures were also introduced into the image processing process. The actual "economical" approach was applied and tested in the thresholding process where a "shortened thresholding algorithm" was created. The approach was also applied to the object-in-picture search process, creating a "network-based object-in-picture method" that uses the fact that we search and identify known objects in industrial applications as opposed to identifying objects in an unknown environment. The combination of image acquisition, image processing and robot control with one comprehensive application is also a major benefit. Of course, to ensure this functionality, it was first necessary to create a theoretical base on which to build. The main problem was to create a control part of the robot control in C # and to link it to the basic control program created in C ++.

Actual importance of research theme: Combating hunger and providing the Earth’s population with sufficient amount of products is considered one of the strategic priorities of human civilization sustainable development by the UN up to 2030. The rapid growth of this planet’s human population in the 21st century, estimated at 7.6. billion people, leads to the global demand for production and foodstuff. Simultaneously, traditional strategies of extensive development conventional in the 20th century and “target” intensification of agriculture do not take expected positive effect nowadays. World economy requires for new strategies of agricultural production, as well as promoting ‘green revolution’ based on the ground of IT technology advances and “Industry 4.0.”. The generalization of world experience concerning development and implementing agricultural production strategies in the 21st century is of greater theoretical and practical importance for all countries which export agricultural production in mass scales, including Ukraine which focuses on the leadership in the world agricultural business. Thus, the urgency of the issue confirms the actual importance of this article. The problem statement. Foodstuff output in world economy is growing slowly and does not meet the increasing demand for food and agricultural products in industry in global scales. Under these conditions the manufacturers of agricultural products like farmers, agro-businesses and agro-holdings, as well as transnational corporation alter and modify agricultural strategies that were conventional in the 20th century. Among the new strategies transition to precision farming and innovational agriculture based on implementing IT technologies takes the leading role. The core and socio-economic consequences of such strategy implementation require further study. Analysis of latest studies and publication. The important contribution to the study of the core and dimensions of agricultural production strategies linked to innovation and investment development as well as to improvement property relations is made by such Ukrainian scholars as P. Makarenko, V. Pilyavskiy [1] and O. Shul’ga [2]. Foreign scientists like Smaller, C., andW. Speller, withH. Mirza, N. Bernasconi-Osterwalder, andG. Dixie [3] paid the specific attention to the study of strategic priorities concerning risks minimization and profit maximization by agro-businesses and TNC within the realization of agricultural contracts at world markets. Overseas researchers KeatingB., HerreroM., CarberryP. [4] emphasized on actual importance of compliance with strategy of foodstuff security in global environment in their studies. However, the issue of developing the strategy of precise agricultural production based on widespread use of innovation and IT technologies, research into socio-economic consequences accompanying their implementation in the 21st century remains poorly studied. Research challenge of general issue. The issue of studies the core and elements of agricultural production development process in world economy is highlighted in world economic literature pretty well. Nevertheless, the study of TNCs and agricultural businesses strategies and strategies concerning transition of TNCs to the development of precise agriculture is really meaningful. Besides, at present time the trends of direct foreign investments as for agricultural lands purchase and priorities analysis of their use by TNCs in developed and developing world countries are uncertain. Socio economic consequences of mass precise agriculture introduction for national economy in countries with agrarian specialization also require detailed researching. Problem statement, objective of research. The objective of research is to highlight the core and define the regularity of formation, as well as emphasize the basic expected socio-economic consequences of precise agriculture development strategy implementing on the grounds of generalization the world experience of agricultural TNC sactivity. To achieve the objective set the article aimed at solution the following tasks: to note the main ‘players’ at the world agricultural market and study the priorities of their economic activity; to study the core and the elements of ‘green revolution’ strategy, as well as strategy of transition to precise agricultural production based on implementing innovations and IT technologies; to define strategic goals of TNCs as for the use of acquiring land ( at the cost of direct foreign investments) on the grounds of generalization developed and developing countries experience; to point out the expected socio-economic consequences of mass implementation of precise agricultural production strategies by TNCs and national agro-businesses for the economy of the countries specialized in agriculture. Method and methodology of the study. While studying the world experience of implementation the precise agricultural production development strategies theoretical and empirical methods of scientific research were employed. Historical and logical methods, abstract and specific methods, methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as causal (cause-and-effect) method were applied in the article to define strategic priorities of agricultural business and agricultural TNC specialization, to point out expected socio-economic consequences of mass transition to precise agricultural production in the countries with agrarian specialization. Synergetic approach, method of expert estimates and casual methods were applied to ground “green revolution” strategy, as well as strategy of TNCs as for transition to precise agriculture based on innovations and IT technologies. The results of study. Agricultural production is presented by farmers, households, state agricultural sector, national agro-businesses and agro-holdings, international TNCs. As a rule, farms are focused on domestic market; they specialize in production of minor parties of manual crop production and horticulture, grow vegetables, fruit and berries, as well as they are engaged in poultry farming, beekeeping, dairy production, stockbreeding in rather small scales. The farmers in developed world countries, particularly EU countries, concentrate on organic production which is of high demand among middle-class representatives. In EU countries farming is traditionally supported by the state, as it bears both economic and social valuable functions, i.e. assists in rural development and creates workplaces in countryside. The main stakeholders at the mass agricultural market in the world are considered large national and international agro-holdings an TNCs specialized in agricultural production and its industrial processing. TNCs shaped the closed loop – from selection to agricultural production, from its processing to its manufacturing. At the cost of large production scales, as well as capital concentration and centralization it is the agricultural TNCs which leads in production and export of foodstuffs at world markets. TNCs ‘ leadership at world agriculture markets is grounded on ‘green revolution’ strategy implementing, which consists of such elements as innovations, bio-selection to produce performance breed, intensive growth in crop productivity, including the one using GMO which makes cropping insensitive to water shortage, high temperatures and droughts. Agrarian TNCs in the 21st century actively implement the strategies of transition to precise agriculture based on the use of innovations and IT technologies. As the world experience confirms, strategies of transition to precise agriculture combine the following innovations: astronaut and aviation technologies, unmanned technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles; mass transition to the use of apparatus to analyze the ground online; spreading of “agro-scouting” innovation technologies as for field information gathering concerning the condition and development of agriculture; implementation intellectual system of managerial decision-making support; introduction of monitoring and control auto-system and implementation of IT-system as for account of agriculture process elements. The development of precise agriculture for national world economies which are agriculture-based offers a lot of benefits, such as: increase in labor productivity in agriculture; the decrease in employment that saves working capital of agro-businesses; industrialization and technical renovation of agrarian sector which promotes the market for IT products, precise machine building; increase in commerce and export potential of the country, mainly, in the sphere of monostructural crop production (grain, corn, soya, raps, oilseeds etc.). Such strategies also provide revitalization of direct foreign investment processes by TNCsconcerning purchasing farmland in the developing countries with their further listing as raw materials supplier for TNCs. The latter shape and control international links of production value added to all kinds of agricultural products. Among the risks which implementation of precise agriculture strategies bear for national developing country’s economy which are agriculture-based the following should be mentioned: risks concerning decrease in farms and decline in production of labor-intensive small-scale agriculture products (vegetables, fruit, honey etc.); risks of jobs recession and, respectively, the number of rural population and others. There are also other risks linked to these processes like risks of growing volumes of ready foodstuffs import, chronic scarcity of state budget and increase in internal debt, enhancing migration processes etc. In case of falling world prices for foodstuffs and worsening global conditions for agriculture products, including agrarian raw materials, in particular, due to another world economic crisis, the abandonment of occasional farmland purchased by TNCs in developing agrarian countries, their further freezing and ceasing the processing for better times should not be excluded. Under such circumstances the risks of famine for countries which could lose the managerial control over own land resources are also a threatening exercise as for implementing such TNC strategy. The field of results application. International economic relations and world economy, development of agriculture competitive strategies in world countries and agrarian TNCs in world economy. Conclusions. Farms, agro-businesses, agro-holdings and agrarian TNCs are the economic centres of mass agriculture production in all world countries. Farms are mainly specialized in labour-intensive small-scale agriculture production like horticulture, gardening, bee-keeping etc. Large agro-businesses and agrarian TNCs choose the strategy of specializing in mass monostructural agriculture production such as crop production (grain, corn, soya beans and industrial crops). In developed world countries TNCs apply the strategy of farmlands multi-purpose use, including the goals aimed at development and processing livestock and crop production; at development of renewable energy and bio-energy. In developed world countries TNCs focus on processing all kinds of agriculture products and foodstuffs production with high value added. Purchasing of farmlands by TNCs in developing countries, in particular, at the cost of direct foreign investment, provides for implementation the strategy of purchased lands engagement, mainly, to develop crop production as a raw basis for their further processing in the native countries for TNCs. The general world trend of agrarian TNCs development is use of innovation technologies, transition to precise agriculture based on IT technologies, aviation and astronautic technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles and other innovations which positively impact labor productivity and mass industrial production profitability, as well as choose transition to monostructural agrarian specialization as a priority, but bear a set of social risks for developing countries’ economies. Transition of Ukrainian agro-businesses and agro-holdings to the strategy of precise agriculture development based on innovations and IT technologies provides Ukraine’s competitiveness at the world agrarian markets. This process should go hand-in-hand with land reform taking into account Ukrainian farming interests. Establishing industrial processing of agriculture raw products and production of ready foodstuffs with high value added should be strategic for Ukraine.

A review article devoted to the book of Andrzej Blikle – Doktryna jakości. Rzecz o skutecznym zarządzaniu. As pointed out by the Author, the book is a case of a work rare on the Polish publishing market, written by an outstanding scientist, who successfully runs a business activity. The combination of practical experience with theoretical knowledge gave a result that may be satisfying both for practitioners as well as theorists, and also those who want to get to know the ins and outs of an effective and efficient business management. The Author of the review believes that it is an important voice for shaping an inclusive socio-economic system, which constitutes a value in itself. Although the book is mainly concerned with business management, its message has a much wider dimension and is concerned with real measures of wealth, money and people’s lives. The book was awarded The SGH Collegium of Business Administration Award “For the best scientific work in the field of business administration in the years 2014-2015”. Andrzej Jacek Blikle Doktryna jakości. Rzecz o skutecznym zarządzaniu (The Doctrine of Quality. On Effective Management) Gliwice, Helion Publishing Company, 2014, p. 546 Introduction One of the distinctive features of the contemporary economy and contemporary world is a kind of obsession of quantity which is related to thoughtless consumerism, unfavourable to the care for the quality of the work and the quality of the produced and consumed goods and services. It is accompanied by culture (or rather non-culture) of singleness. Therefore, the book The Doctrine of Quality by Andrzej Blikle is like a breath of fresh air. It is a different perspective on the economy and the model of operation of enterprises, on the model of work and life of people. A. Blikle proves that it can be done otherwise. He proves it on the basis of careful studies of the source literature – as expected from a professor of mathematics and an economist, but also on the basis of his own experience gained during the scientific and educational work, and most of all through the economic practice. In the world governed by the obsession of quantity, characterised by fragility, shortness of human relationships, including the relationship of the entrepreneur – employee, A. Blikle chooses durability of these relations, creativity, responsibility, quality of work and production, and ethics. The Doctrine of Quality is a rare example of the work on the Polish publishing market, whose author is a prominent scientist, successfully conducting a business activity for more than two decades, which has contributed to the development of the family company – a known confectionery brand “A. Blikle”. The combination of practical experience with theoretical knowledge gave a result that may be satisfying both for practitioners as well as theorists, and also those who want to get to know the ins and outs of an effective and efficient business management, or develop the knowledge on this topic. In an attractive, clear narrative form, the author comprehensively presents the complexities of business management, indicating the sources of success, but also the reasons and the foundations of failures. At the same time, he presents these issues with an interdisciplinary approach, which contributes to thoroughness of the arguments and deeper reflections. Holism, typical to this book, is also expressed in the focus of A. Blikle not only on the economic, but also on social and ecological issues. Here, the author points to the possibility and need of reconciliation of the economic interests with social interests, and the care for the public good. Analyses of this subject are presented using the achievements of many areas of studies, in addition to economic sciences, including mathematics, sociology, psychology, medicine, and others. This gives a comprehensive picture of the complexity of business management – taking into account its close and distant environment. There are no longueurs in the book, although extensive (over 500 pages), or lengthy, or even unnecessary reasoning overwhelming the reader, as the text is illustrated with a number of examples from practice, and coloured with anecdotes. At the same time, the author does not avoid using expressions popular in the world of (not only) business. He proves that a motivational system which is not based on the approach of “carrot and stick” and without a devastating competition of a “rat race” is possible. The author supports his arguments with references not only to the interdisciplinary scientific achievements, but also to the economic historical experiences and to a variety of older and newer business models. There is a clear fascination with the reserves of creativity and productivity in the humanization of work. In fact, the author strongly exposes the potential of productivity and creativity in creating the conditions and atmosphere of work fostering elimination of fear of the future. He shows that such fear destroys creativity. It is not a coincidence that A. Blikle refers to the Fordist principles, including the warning that manufacturing and business do not consist of cheap buying and expensive selling. He reminds that Henry Ford, a legendary creator of the development of the automotive industry in the United States, put serving the public before the profit. The Doctrine of Quality is at the same time a book – proof that one of the most dangerous misconceptions or errors in the contemporary understanding of economics is finding that it is a science of making money, chremastics. Edmund Phelps and others warned against this in the year of the outbreak of the financial crisis in the USA in 2008, reminding that economics is not a science of making money but a science of relations between the economy and social life [Phelps, 2008]. Economics is a science of people in the process of management. Therefore, by definition, it applies to social values and ethos. Ethos is a general set of values, standards and models of proceedings adopted by a particular group of people. In this sense, ethos and economics as a science of people in the process of management are inseparable. Detaching economics from morality is in contradiction to the classical Smithian concept of economics, as Adam Smith combined the idea of the free market with morality. He treated his first work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, as an inseparable basis for deliberations on the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, which was the subject of the subsequent work of this thinker [Smith, 1989; Smith, 2012]. Identifying economics with chremastics would then mean that all actions are acceptable and desired, if their outcome is earnings, profit, money. The book of A. Blikle denies it. It contains a number of case studies, which also stimulate broader reflections. Therefore, and also due to the features indicated above, it can be a very useful teaching aid in teaching entrepreneurship and management. The appearance of a book promoting the doctrine of quality and exposing the meaning of ethos of work is especially important because today the phenomenon of product adulteration becomes increasingly widespread, which is ironically referred to in literature as the “gold-plating” of products [Sennett, 2010, pp. 115-118], and the trend as “antifeatures”, that is intentionally limiting the efficiency and durability of products of daily use to create demand for new products. A model example of antifeature is a sim-lock installed in some telephones which makes it impossible to use SIM cards of foreign operators [Rohwetter, 2011, p. 48; Miszewski, 2013]. These types of negative phenomena are also promoted by the development of systemic solutions aiming at the diffusion of responsibility [Sennett, 2010]. This issue is presented among others by Nassim N.N. Taleb, in the book with a meaningful title Antifragile: How to Live in a World We Don’t Understand? The author proves that the economy and society lose their natural durability as a result of the introduction of numerous tools and methods of insurance against risks, but mostly by shifting the burden of risks on other entities [Taleb, 2012]. N.N. Taleb illustrates his arguments with numerous convincing examples and references to history, recalling, inter alia, that in ancient times there was no building control, but the constructors, e.g. of bridges had to sleep under them for some time after their construction, and the ancient aqueducts are still working well until today. So, he shows that a contemporary world, focused on quantitative effects, does not create a sound base for ethical behaviours and the care for the quality of work and manufacturing. Andrzej Blikle points to the need and possibility of opposing this, and opposing to what the Noble Price Winner for Economics, Joseph Stiglitz described as avarice triumphs over prudence [Stiglitz, 2015, p. 277]. The phrase emphasised in the book “Live and work with a purpose” is the opposition to the dangerous phenomena listed above, such as for example antifeatures. convincing that although the business activity is essentially focused on profits, making money, limited to this, it would be led to the syndrome of King Midas, who wanted to turn everything he touched into gold, but he soon realised that he was at risk of dying of starvation, as even the food turned into gold. What distinguishes this book is that almost every part of it forces in-depth reflections on the social and economic relations and brings to mind the works of other authors, but at the same time, creates a new context for them. So, A. Blikle clearly proves that both the economy and businesses need social rooting. This corresponds to the theses of the Hungarian intellectual Karl Polanyi, who in his renowned work The Great Transformation, already in 1944 argued that the economy is not rooted in the social relations [Polanyi, 2010, p. 70]. He pointed to the risk resulting from commodification of everything, and warned that allowing the market mechanism and competition to control the human life and environment would result in disintegration of society. Although K. Polanyi’s warnings were concerned with the industrial civilization, they are still valid, even now – when the digital revolution brings fundamental changes, among others, on the labour market – they strengthen it. The dynamics of these changes is so high that it seems that the thesis of Jeremy Rifkin on the end of work [Rifkin, 2003] becomes more plausible. It is also confirmed by recent analyses included in the book of this author, concerning the society of zero marginal cost and sharing economy [Rifkin, 2016], and the analyses concerning uberisation [Uberworld, 2016]. The book of Andrzej Blikle also evokes one of the basic asymmetries of the contemporary world, which is the inadequacy of the dynamics and sizes of the supply of products and services to the dynamics and sizes of the demand for them. Insufficient demand collides with the rapidly increasing, as a result of technological changes, possibilities of growth of production and services. This leads to overproduction and related therewith large negative implications, with features of wasteful economy of excess [Kornai, 2014]. It is accompanied by phenomena with features of some kind of market bulimia, sick consumerism, detrimental both to people and the environment [Rist, 2015]. One of the more compromising signs of the economy of excess and wasting of resources is wasting of food by rich countries, when simultaneously, there are areas of hunger in some parts of the world [Stuart, 2009]. At the same time, the economy of excess does not translate to the comfort of the buyers of goods – as in theory attributed to the consumer market. It is indicated in the publication of Janos Kornai concerning a comparative analysis of the features of socio-economic systems. While exposing his deep critical evaluation of socialist non-market systems, as economies of constant deficiency, he does not spare critical opinions on the capitalist economy of excess, with its quest for the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) and profits. As an example of the economy of excess, he indicates the pharmaceutical industry, with strong monopolistic competition, dynamic innovativeness, wide selection for the buyers, flood of advertisements, manipulation of customers, and often bribing the doctors prescribing products [Kornai 2014, p. 202]. This type of abnormalities is not alien to other industries. Although J. Konrai appreciates that in the economy of excess, including the excess of production capacities, the excess is “grease” calming down and soothing clashes that occur in the mechanisms of adaptation, he also sees that those who claim that in the economy of excess (or more generally in the market economy), sovereignty of consumers dominates, exaggerate [Kornai, 2014, pp. 171-172], as the manufacturers, creating the supply, manipulate the consumers. Thus, there is an excess of supply – both of values as well as junk [Kornai, 2014, p. 176]. Analysing the economy of excess, J. Kornai brings this issue to the question of domination and subordination. It corresponds with the opinion of Jerzy Wilkin, according to whom, the free market can also enslave, so take away individual freedom; on the other hand, the lack of the free market can lead to enslavement as well. Economists willingly talk about the free market, and less about the free man [Wilkin, 2014, p. 4]. The economy of excess is one of the consequences of making a fetish of the economic growth and its measure, which is the gross domestic product (GDP) and treating it as the basis of social and economic activity. In such a system, the pressure of growth is created, so you must grow to avoid death! The system is thus comparable to a cyclist, who has to move forwards to keep his balance [Rist, 2015, p. 181]. It corresponds with the known, unflattering to economists, saying of Kenneth E. Boulding [1956], criticising the focus of economics on the economic growth, while ignoring social implications and consequences to the environment: Anyone who believes in indefinite growth in anything physical, on a physically finite planet, is either mad or an economist. [from: Rist, 2015, p. 268]. GDP is a very much needed or even indispensable measure for evaluation of the material level of the economies of individual countries and for comparing their economic health. However, it is insufficient for evaluation of the real level of welfare and quality of life. It requires supplementation with other measures, as it takes into account only the values created by the market purchase and sale transactions. It reflects only the market results of the activity of enterprises and households. Additionally, the GDP account threats the socially desirable and not desirable activities equally. Thus, the market activity related to social pathologies (e.g. functioning of prisons, prostitution, and drug dealing) also increase the GDP. It was accurately expressed already in 1968 by Robert Kennedy, who concluded the discussion on this issue saying that: the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile [The Guardian, 2012]. While Grzegorz W. Kołodko even states that it should be surprising how it is possible that despite a number of alternative measures of social and economic progress, we are still in the corset of narrow measure of the gross product, which completely omits many significant aspects of the social process of reproduction [Kołodko, 2013, p. 44]. In this context he points to the necessity of triple sustainable growth – economic, social, and ecological [Kołodko, 2013, p. 377]. Transition from the industrial civilisation model to the new model of economy, to the age of information, causes a kind of cultural regression, a phenomenon of cultural anchoring in the old system. This type of lock-in effect - described in the source literature, that is the effect of locking in the existing frames and systemic solutions, is a barrier to development. The practice more and more often and clearer demonstrates that in the conditions of the new economy, the tools and traditional solutions turn out to be not only ineffective, but they even increase the risk of wrong social and economic decisions, made at different institutional levels. All this proves that new development models must be searched for and implemented, to allow counteraction to dysfunctions of the contemporary economy and wasting the development potential, resulting from a variety of maladjustments generated by the crisis of civilisation. Polish authors who devote much of their work to these issues include G.W. Kołodko, Jerzy Kleer, or Maciej Bałtowski. Studies confirm that there is a need for a new pragmatism, new, proinclusive model of shaping the social and economic reality, a model which is more socially rooted, aiming at reconciling social, economic and ecological objectives, with simultaneous optimisation of the use of the social and economic potential [Kołodko, 2013; Bałtowski, 2016; Kleer, 2015]. There is more and more evidence that the barriers to economic development growing in the global economy are closely related with the rooting of the economy in social relations. The book of A. Blikle becomes a part of this trend in a new and original manner. Although the author concentrates on the analyses of social relations mainly at the level of an enterprise, at the same time, he comments them at a macroeconomic, sociological and ethical level, and interdisciplinary contexts constitute an original value of the book. Conclusion I treat the book of Andrzej Blike as an important voice in favour of shaping an inclusive social and economic system, in favour of shaping inclusive enterprises, that is oriented on an optimal absorption of knowledge, innovation and effective reconciliation of the interests of entrepreneurs with the interests of employees and the interests of society. Inclusiveness is indeed a value in itself. It is understood as a mechanism/system limiting wasting of material resources and human capital, and counteracting environmental degradation. An inclusive social and economic system is a system oriented on optimisation of the production resources and reducing the span between the actual and potential level of economic growth and social development [Reforma, 2015]. And this is the system addressed by Andrzej Blikle in his book. At least this is how I see it. Although the book is mainly concerned with business management, its message has a much wider dimension and is concerned with real measures of wealth, money and people’s lives. null

The search for alternative methods of replacing steel reinforcement in load-bearing reinforced concrete structures with composite polymer reinforcement is an urgent scientific and practical task. Composite reinforcement (basalt-plastic, fiberglass) is an economically viable alternative to steel reinforcement; it possesses high tensile strength and chemical resistance, light weight (more than 4 times lighter than the steel ones), low thermal conductivity, radio transparency, dielectric properties. Such properties make it possible to use this type of reinforcement of concrete structures in civil, industrial, and road construction. Only in recent years, the specialists in Uzbekistan have paid special attention to the need for composite polymer reinforcement in construction. This type of reinforcement makes it possible to increase the service life of concrete structures and the building as a whole and to reduce the country's dependence on imports of steel reinforcement. At present the production of basalt-plastic reinforcement is localized in the country – its fiber is made from local basalt. For the possibility of industrial application of composite polymer reinforcement in construction, it is necessary to establish a relationship between a customer, a designer, and a manufacturer. For a customer, the project must be economically profitable, a designer must understand the physical and mechanical properties of the reinforcement and know the regulatory base, and a manufacturer must be interested in producing quality units and assemblies in accordance with the interstate standards, and be sure that the reinforcement produced by him will be in demand. The high deformability of structures caused by the low modulus of elasticity of composite reinforcement does not allow the manufacture of structures that work as bending and eccentrically compressed elements, embedded in reinforced concrete; however, it is noted that such reinforcement can be used in structures for which the requirements for the second group of limiting states are not determinant. The national standards acting in the CIS countries and other states limit the scope of application of composite polymer reinforcement in concrete structures in industrial objects of the economic complex. An analysis of the actual operation of prefabricated road panels, taking into account the low deformation characteristics of basalt-plastic reinforcement, showed the possibility of replacing steel reinforcement with a composite polymer one according to the criterion of uniform strength in terms of design tensile strengths while maintaining the number of working reinforcement bars and their location in reinforcing units. The results of testing the pilot panels of the road surface (prefabricated ones) reinforced with basalt-plastic reinforcement were considered to determine their crack resistance and bearing capacity. The test results of experimental road panels show that the bearing capacity not only decreased but substantially increased. The high corrosion resistance of basalt-plastic reinforcement, when used in road panels, contributes to an increase in the service life of such panels, since the values of crack opening under operational loads are set lower than the permissible limit values. The results of this study show that it is possible to expand the scope of industrial application of basalt-plastic reinforcement in the production of precast concrete structures, for example, for road construction. To do this, it is necessary to create a regulatory framework based on the results of relevant research work.

After Rome had conquered much of temperate Europe, the administration directed the establishment of industries important to the maintenance of military and economic control of the new provinces. These included stone quarries, pottery manufactures, and metal industries. Recent research shows that much production was not as centralized as has been believed; diverse industrial sites throughout the provincial landscapes indicate a variety of arrangements for supplying the needs of the empire. In many instances, Roman production systems relied upon indigenous traditions of manufacturing. The provincial economies depended also upon materials collected and processed beyond the imperial frontiers. Analysis of Roman imports in Germany, Scandinavia, and eastern Europe, and of the contexts in which they occur, suggesta that goods produced outside of the empire played a major role in the imperial economy. These commercial links, over which Roman authorities had no effective control, contributed to substantial changes in economics and in social and political configurations in societies beyond the Roman frontier.

Due to the advancements and use of computer based technologies in manufacturing sectors, there has been a drastic change in how manufacturing industries perform their business. Manufacturing tied up with cloud computing technologies can help the customers, suppliers and manufacturers in several ways and hence can maximize profit in production lines. However, even though there are several policies for scheduling workflows in production, effective mapping of tasks with resources is always a challenging issue. If scheduling policies are inappropriate, it will have a negative impact on cost, time and therefore may affect the overall performance of the workflow. This work proposes a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) based scheduling model to schedule resources related to chemical and electro chemical coating. The major objective of this work is to reduce makespan, improve resource utilization and also minimize the overall cost of the workflow. This information obtained from the workflow can be used for better decision making when several tasks has to be done in parallel by migrating the tasks to the site of resource availability. The computational results also shows that MOGA performs well in makespan minimization, resource utilization and cost minimization because of its convergence speed and robustness. The analysis results prove that, MOGA can be optimal for estimating the path of where the work can be done such that the makespan and cost is minimized.

The production of cyclotol, a military high explosive used in manufacture of aerial bombs, involves the multiphase mixing of molten TNT, RDX solid particles and water. Textural homogeneity of the final cyclotol mixture and near-zero water composition are critical requirements to minimize bomb-rejection rate and hence improved plant profitability. Although current data reveal significant statistical variation in product quality, detailed investigation of the complex mixing operation does not lend itself to physical experimentation due to the explosive nature of the process. This forestalls opportunities for improved process operation or re-design. To circumvent this constraint, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the industrial-scale process was carried out to understand how current mixing protocols impact on key in-tank profiles such as water draw-down, RDX particles suspension, turbulence kinetic energy, velocity magnitude, vector direction and water-entrainment. The analysis revealed that while the maximum impeller speed allowable to avoid water draw-down is 20 rpm, the minimum speed necessary to suspend the RDX particles for homogeneous mixing is 40 rpm. These opposing requirements are neither accommodated by the present mixing protocols nor achievable with the existing tank design. Even so, the 'mystery' of irrational cyclotol quality has been uncovered by a judicious use of CFD modeling and opened up the possibility of a revised tank design and optimal process operation for superior plant economics.

This paper seeks to make joint decisions on preventive maintenance level and production quantity for manufacturing systems subject to stochastic demand in a finite-horizon. Standard models for scheduling preventive maintenance typically ignore the throughput target variation due to demand uncertainty and specify instead a constant demand rate. We show that maintenance decisions should be integrated with production decisions to accommodate the demand uncertainty. To achieve this objective, preventive maintenance (PM) flexibility is introduced as the opportunity to select and implement maintenance tasks at different levels, which can be viewed as real options to the manufacturer. PM levels can be defined according to the degree to which the machine condition is stored by maintenance. A preventive maintenance can be a minimal, imperfect, or perfect one. By leveraging PM flexibility, this paper proposes a model to determine optimal production quantity and PM level for a single-product manufacturing system with a finite planning horizon. A real option analysis (ROA) is developed to quantify the benefits and costs of PM flexibility. We derive optimal joint decisions for maintenance and production that maximize the overall expected profit of the system. We compare the proposed PM-flexible model with the conventional PM-fixed model in a case study. The results demonstrate the condition that the PM-flexible model outperforms the PM-fixed model in terms of option value (expected operating profits). We also show how the growth in demand volatility affects the optimal decisions and overall profitability. These results have important implications for making maintenance and production decisions, especially in industries that feature high demand volatility.

This research work was intended to analyze the unleashed issues related to apparel trade during COVID-19 pandemic & made an attempt to find the best possible responses to uphold marketing campaigns during & after the pandemic situation. Apparel industries in Asia, the largest global hub of both the textile & apparel import-export trade have been severally damaged by the COVID-19. Over the last one year, the global community had already realized the fact that how pandemic situation disrupted the supply chain management of textile, apparel & fashion manufacturing industries throughout the world. Bangladesh, one of the top ranked garments exporter countries have been facing the burning bridges, due to the scarcity of raw materials & gradual cancelation export orders. The contribution of the apparel industry is more significant for the socio-economic growth of a 3rd world countries like Bangladesh, just because apparel contributes almost 84% of its total export income with the involvement of 4.5 million people approximately. The following research paper conveys a three-fold story. In the very beginning portion, there are some reviews & analysis of the overall scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic with presence of several business reports, academic journals, market research, manufactures' opinions & stakeholders' strategies. The second phase of the research work forecasts the possible responses need to be projected during & after the pandemic situation. Finally, this study predicts an ideal foot print to cope up with similar sort of situations in future.

Purpose The fundamentals of Lean are applicable and can be used in any industry, even non-profit and government organizations, however, there might be certain limitations due to the nature and the specifics of the industry. This study aims to explore what barriers of Lean implementation textile manufacturers might encounter. The authors consider the problem is worth to be explored for the potential to improve the effectiveness of Lean implementation in textile sector companies. Design/methodology/approach This research was conducted by using qualitative content analysis with open coding of the selected literature followed by empirical research in a Latvian textile manufacturing company. Findings The presented literature review shows Lean implementation barriers and critical success factors in various industries. The findings from the case study can be divided into two groups. The first confirmed the barriers already identified in the previous research. The second identified industry specific implementation barriers that were not recognized in the related literature. Research limitations/implications The original research was limited in scope to one Latvian textile manufacturer, therefore future studies on the subject to confirm the outcome of the research are required. Originality/value There is a limited number of studies on the application of Lean in the textile and apparel industry. The literature on Lean implementation in the Latvian manufacturing sector is also limited. The results of this research may have a practical application for textile manufactures considering implementing Lean in their processes.

Today, the European vector of our country’s development and the strategy of economic partnership with the EU pose certain challenges for our state. Signing the EU Association Agreement made an important impact on the changes in Ukrainian legislation concerning harmonization of laws and rules in economics. Providing the proper quality of agricultural products remains an important task. It requires improving the organizational and legal support in changing accents in legal regulation: giving manufacturers more freedom in economic issues instead of administering directly. The above-mentioned Agreement gave a good boost to create the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, which, in turn allowed merging three state organizations to start monitoring food safety and quality “from field to fork.” Especially important are the Requirements to the Development, Introduction, and Usage of Standing Procedures based on the HACCP system principles. Today, HACCP-based certification of standing procedures is not obligatory, unlike the presence of Prerequisite Programmes of HACCP, which is obligatory. A Prerequisite Programme must cover 13 processes: from planning the manufacturing, auxiliary, and staff facilities in order to avoid cross-contamination to marking finished products. A number of requirements must be met by each of these processes in particular. The authors of this article have analysed the legislation changes and the latest publications about a number of Ukrainian food enterprises that have introduced the HACCP principles. This analysis has allowed concluding that in these enterprises, this process has caused some changes in their manufacturing technologies and management systems. Groups of factors influencing the products’ quality have been outlined. The importance of the human element at various stages of quality formation and control has been emphasized. The existing systems of quality and safety management in food industries have been analysed in detail.

Abstract The composite sheet layup process involves stacking several layers of a viscoelastic prepreg sheet and curing the laminate to manufacture the component. Demands for automating functional tasks in the composite manufacturing processes have dramatically increased in the past decade. A simulation system representing a digital twin of the composite sheet can aid in the development of such an autonomous system for prepreg sheet layup. While Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a popular approach for simulating flexible materials, material properties need to be encoded to produce high-fidelity mechanical simulations. We present a methodology to predict material parameters of a thin-shell FEA model based on real-world observations of the deformations of the object. We utilize the model to develop a digital twin of a composite sheet. The method is tested on viscoelastic composite prepreg sheets and fabric materials such as cotton cloth, felt and canvas. We discuss the implementation and development of a high-speed FEA simulator based on the VegaFEM library. By using our method to identify sheet material parameters, the sheet simulation system is able to predict sheet behavior within 5 cm of average error and have proven its capability for 10 fps real-time sheet simulation.

Abstract The objective of this work is to provide experimental validation of the graph theory approach for predicting the thermal history of additively manufactured parts. The graph theory approach for thermal modeling in additive manufacturing (AM) was recently published in these transactions. In the present paper, the graph theory approach is validated with in situ infrared thermography data in the context of the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing process. We realize the foregoing objective through the following four tasks. First, two kinds of test shapes, namely, a cylinder and cone, are made in two separate builds on a production-type LPBF machine (Renishaw AM250); the material used for these tests is stainless steel (SAE 316L). The intent of both builds is to influence the thermal history of the part by controlling the cooling time between the melting of successive layers, called the interlayer cooling time (ILCT). Second, layer-wise thermal images of the top surface of the part are acquired using an in situ a priori calibrated infrared camera. Third, the thermal imaging data obtained during the two builds is used to validate the graph theory-predicted surface temperature trends. Fourth, the surface temperature trends predicted using graph theory are compared with results from finite element (FE) analysis. The results substantiate the computational advantages of the graph theory approach over finite element analysis. As an example, for the cylinder-shaped test part, the graph theory approach predicts the surface temperature trends to within 10% mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and approximately 16 K root mean squared error (RMSE) relative to the surface temperature trends measured by the thermal camera. Furthermore, the graph theory-based temperature predictions are made in less than 65 min, which is substantially faster than the actual build time of 171 min. In comparison, for an identical level of resolution and prediction error, the finite element approach requires 175 min.

When George Orwell encountered ideas of a technological utopia sixty-five years ago, he acted the grumpy middle-aged man Reading recently a batch of rather shallowly optimistic “progressive” books, I was struck by the automatic way in which people go on repeating certain phrases which were fashionable before 1914. Two great favourites are “the abolition of distance” and “the disappearance of frontiers”. I do not know how often I have met with the statements that “the aeroplane and the radio have abolished distance” and “all parts of the world are now interdependent” (1944). It is worth revisiting the old boy’s grumpiness, because the rhetoric he so niftily skewers continues in our own time. Facebook features “Peace on Facebook” and even claims that it can “decrease world conflict” through inter-cultural communication. Twitter has announced itself as “a triumph of humanity” (“A Cyber-House” 61). Queue George. In between Orwell and latter-day hoody cybertarians, a whole host of excitable public intellectuals announced the impending end of materiality through emergent media forms. Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Daniel Bell, Ithiel de Sola Pool, George Gilder, Alvin Toffler—the list of 1960s futurists goes on and on. And this wasn’t just a matter of punditry: the OECD decreed the coming of the “information society” in 1975 and the European Union (EU) followed suit in 1979, while IBM merrily declared an “information age” in 1977. Bell theorized this technological utopia as post-ideological, because class would cease to matter (Mattelart). Polluting industries seemingly no longer represented the dynamic core of industrial capitalism; instead, market dynamism radiated from a networked, intellectual core of creative and informational activities. The new information and knowledge-based economies would rescue First World hegemony from an “insurgent world” that lurked within as well as beyond itself (Schiller). Orwell’s others and the Cold-War futurists propagated one of the most destructive myths shaping both public debate and scholarly studies of the media, culture, and communication. They convinced generations of analysts, activists, and arrivistes that the promises and problems of the media could be understood via metaphors of the environment, and that the media were weightless and virtual. The famous medium they wished us to see as the message —a substance as vital to our wellbeing as air, water, and soil—turned out to be no such thing. Today’s cybertarians inherit their anti-Marxist, anti-materialist positions, as a casual glance at any new media journal, culture-industry magazine, or bourgeois press outlet discloses. The media are undoubtedly important instruments of social cohesion and fragmentation, political power and dissent, democracy and demagoguery, and other fraught extensions of human consciousness. But talk of media systems as equivalent to physical ecosystems—fashionable among marketers and media scholars alike—is predicated on the notion that they are environmentally benign technologies. This has never been true, from the beginnings of print to today’s cloud-covered computing. Our new book Greening the Media focuses on the environmental impact of the media—the myriad ways that media technology consumes, despoils, and wastes natural resources. We introduce ideas, stories, and facts that have been marginal or absent from popular, academic, and professional histories of media technology. Throughout, ecological issues have been at the core of our work and we immodestly think the same should apply to media communications, and cultural studies more generally. We recognize that those fields have contributed valuable research and teaching that address environmental questions. For instance, there is an abundant literature on representations of the environment in cinema, how to communicate environmental messages successfully, and press coverage of climate change. That’s not enough. You may already know that media technologies contain toxic substances. You may have signed an on-line petition protesting the hazardous and oppressive conditions under which workers assemble cell phones and computers. But you may be startled, as we were, by the scale and pervasiveness of these environmental risks. They are present in and around every site where electronic and electric devices are manufactured, used, and thrown away, poisoning humans, animals, vegetation, soil, air and water. We are using the term “media” as a portmanteau word to cover a multitude of cultural and communications machines and processes—print, film, radio, television, information and communications technologies (ICT), and consumer electronics (CE). This is not only for analytical convenience, but because there is increasing overlap between the sectors. CE connect to ICT and vice versa; televisions resemble computers; books are read on telephones; newspapers are written through clouds; and so on. Cultural forms and gadgets that were once separate are now linked. The currently fashionable notion of convergence doesn’t quite capture the vastness of this integration, which includes any object with a circuit board, scores of accessories that plug into it, and a global nexus of labor and environmental inputs and effects that produce and flow from it. In 2007, a combination of ICT/CE and media production accounted for between 2 and 3 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted around the world (“Gartner Estimates,”; International Telecommunication Union; Malmodin et al.). Between twenty and fifty million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) are generated annually, much of it via discarded cell phones and computers, which affluent populations throw out regularly in order to buy replacements. (Presumably this fits the narcissism of small differences that distinguishes them from their own past.) E-waste is historically produced in the Global North—Australasia, Western Europe, Japan, and the US—and dumped in the Global South—Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Southern and Southeast Asia, and China. It takes the form of a thousand different, often deadly, materials for each electrical and electronic gadget. This trend is changing as India and China generate their own media detritus (Robinson; Herat). Enclosed hard drives, backlit screens, cathode ray tubes, wiring, capacitors, and heavy metals pose few risks while these materials remain encased. But once discarded and dismantled, ICT/CE have the potential to expose workers and ecosystems to a morass of toxic components. Theoretically, “outmoded” parts could be reused or swapped for newer parts to refurbish devices. But items that are defined as waste undergo further destruction in order to collect remaining parts and valuable metals, such as gold, silver, copper, and rare-earth elements. This process causes serious health risks to bones, brains, stomachs, lungs, and other vital organs, in addition to birth defects and disrupted biological development in children. Medical catastrophes can result from lead, cadmium, mercury, other heavy metals, poisonous fumes emitted in search of precious metals, and such carcinogenic compounds as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxin, polyvinyl chloride, and flame retardants (Maxwell and Miller 13). The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency estimates that by 2007 US residents owned approximately three billion electronic devices, with an annual turnover rate of 400 million units, and well over half such purchases made by women. Overall CE ownership varied with age—adults under 45 typically boasted four gadgets; those over 65 made do with one. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) says US$145 billion was expended in the sector in 2006 in the US alone, up 13% on the previous year. The CEA refers joyously to a “consumer love affair with technology continuing at a healthy clip.” In the midst of a recession, 2009 saw $165 billion in sales, and households owned between fifteen and twenty-four gadgets on average. By 2010, US$233 billion was spent on electronic products, three-quarters of the population owned a computer, nearly half of all US adults owned an MP3 player, and 85% had a cell phone. By all measures, the amount of ICT/CE on the planet is staggering. As investigative science journalist, Elizabeth Grossman put it: “no industry pushes products into the global market on the scale that high-tech electronics does” (Maxwell and Miller 2). In 2007, “of the 2.25 million tons of TVs, cell phones and computer products ready for end-of-life management, 18% (414,000 tons) was collected for recycling and 82% (1.84 million tons) was disposed of, primarily in landfill” (Environmental Protection Agency 1). Twenty million computers fell obsolete across the US in 1998, and the rate was 130,000 a day by 2005. It has been estimated that the five hundred million personal computers discarded in the US between 1997 and 2007 contained 6.32 billion pounds of plastics, 1.58 billion pounds of lead, three million pounds of cadmium, 1.9 million pounds of chromium, and 632000 pounds of mercury (Environmental Protection Agency; Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 6). The European Union is expected to generate upwards of twelve million tons annually by 2020 (Commission of the European Communities 17). While refrigerators and dangerous refrigerants account for the bulk of EU e-waste, about 44% of the most toxic e-waste measured in 2005 came from medium-to-small ICT/CE: computer monitors, TVs, printers, ink cartridges, telecommunications equipment, toys, tools, and anything with a circuit board (Commission of the European Communities 31-34). Understanding the enormity of the environmental problems caused by making, using, and disposing of media technologies should arrest our enthusiasm for them. But intellectual correctives to the “love affair” with technology, or technophilia, have come and gone without establishing much of a foothold against the breathtaking flood of gadgets and the propaganda that proclaims their awe-inspiring capabilities.[i] There is a peculiar enchantment with the seeming magic of wireless communication, touch-screen phones and tablets, flat-screen high-definition televisions, 3-D IMAX cinema, mobile computing, and so on—a totemic, quasi-sacred power that the historian of technology David Nye has named the technological sublime (Nye Technological Sublime 297).[ii] We demonstrate in our book why there is no place for the technological sublime in projects to green the media. But first we should explain why such symbolic power does not accrue to more mundane technologies; after all, for the time-strapped cook, a pressure cooker does truly magical things. Three important qualities endow ICT/CE with unique symbolic potency—virtuality, volume, and novelty. The technological sublime of media technology is reinforced by the “virtual nature of much of the industry’s content,” which “tends to obscure their responsibility for a vast proliferation of hardware, all with high levels of built-in obsolescence and decreasing levels of efficiency” (Boyce and Lewis 5). Planned obsolescence entered the lexicon as a new “ethics” for electrical engineering in the 1920s and ’30s, when marketers, eager to “habituate people to buying new products,” called for designs to become quickly obsolete “in efficiency, economy, style, or taste” (Grossman 7-8).[iii] This defines the short lifespan deliberately constructed for computer systems (drives, interfaces, operating systems, batteries, etc.) by making tiny improvements incompatible with existing hardware (Science and Technology Council of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 33-50; Boyce and Lewis). With planned obsolescence leading to “dizzying new heights” of product replacement (Rogers 202), there is an overstated sense of the novelty and preeminence of “new” media—a “cult of the present” is particularly dazzled by the spread of electronic gadgets through globalization (Mattelart and Constantinou 22). References to the symbolic power of media technology can be found in hymnals across the internet and the halls of academe: technologies change us, the media will solve social problems or create new ones, ICTs transform work, monopoly ownership no longer matters, journalism is dead, social networking enables social revolution, and the media deliver a cleaner, post-industrial, capitalism. Here is a typical example from the twilight zone of the technological sublime (actually, the OECD): A major feature of the knowledge-based economy is the impact that ICTs have had on industrial structure, with a rapid growth of services and a relative decline of manufacturing. Services are typically less energy intensive and less polluting, so among those countries with a high and increasing share of services, we often see a declining energy intensity of production … with the emergence of the Knowledge Economy ending the old linear relationship between output and energy use (i.e. partially de-coupling growth and energy use) (Houghton 1) This statement mixes half-truths and nonsense. In reality, old-time, toxic manufacturing has moved to the Global South, where it is ascendant; pollution levels are rising worldwide; and energy consumption is accelerating in residential and institutional sectors, due almost entirely to ICT/CE usage, despite advances in energy conservation technology (a neat instance of the age-old Jevons Paradox). In our book we show how these are all outcomes of growth in ICT/CE, the foundation of the so-called knowledge-based economy. ICT/CE are misleadingly presented as having little or no material ecological impact. In the realm of everyday life, the sublime experience of electronic machinery conceals the physical work and material resources that go into them, while the technological sublime makes the idea that more-is-better palatable, axiomatic; even sexy. In this sense, the technological sublime relates to what Marx called “the Fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour” once they are in the hands of the consumer, who lusts after them as if they were “independent beings” (77). There is a direct but unseen relationship between technology’s symbolic power and the scale of its environmental impact, which the economist Juliet Schor refers to as a “materiality paradox” —the greater the frenzy to buy goods for their transcendent or nonmaterial cultural meaning, the greater the use of material resources (40-41). We wrote Greening the Media knowing that a study of the media’s effect on the environment must work especially hard to break the enchantment that inflames popular and elite passions for media technologies. We understand that the mere mention of the political-economic arrangements that make shiny gadgets possible, or the environmental consequences of their appearance and disappearance, is bad medicine. It’s an unwelcome buzz kill—not a cool way to converse about cool stuff. But we didn’t write the book expecting to win many allies among high-tech enthusiasts and ICT/CE industry leaders. We do not dispute the importance of information and communication media in our lives and modern social systems. We are media people by profession and personal choice, and deeply immersed in the study and use of emerging media technologies. But we think it’s time for a balanced assessment with less hype and more practical understanding of the relationship of media technologies to the biosphere they inhabit. Media consumers, designers, producers, activists, researchers, and policy makers must find new and effective ways to move ICT/CE production and consumption toward ecologically sound practices. In the course of this project, we found in casual conversation, lecture halls, classroom discussions, and correspondence, consistent and increasing concern with the environmental impact of media technology, especially the deleterious effects of e-waste toxins on workers, air, water, and soil. We have learned that the grip of the technological sublime is not ironclad. Its instability provides a point of departure for investigating and criticizing the relationship between the media and the environment. The media are, and have been for a long time, intimate environmental participants. Media technologies are yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s news, but rarely in the way they should be. The prevailing myth is that the printing press, telegraph, phonograph, photograph, cinema, telephone, wireless radio, television, and internet changed the world without changing the Earth. In reality, each technology has emerged by despoiling ecosystems and exposing workers to harmful environments, a truth obscured by symbolic power and the power of moguls to set the terms by which such technologies are designed and deployed. Those who benefit from ideas of growth, progress, and convergence, who profit from high-tech innovation, monopoly, and state collusion—the military-industrial-entertainment-academic complex and multinational commandants of labor—have for too long ripped off the Earth and workers. As the current celebration of media technology inevitably winds down, perhaps it will become easier to comprehend that digital wonders come at the expense of employees and ecosystems. This will return us to Max Weber’s insistence that we understand technology in a mundane way as a “mode of processing material goods” (27). Further to understanding that ordinariness, we can turn to the pioneering conversation analyst Harvey Sacks, who noted three decades ago “the failures of technocratic dreams [:] that if only we introduced some fantastic new communication machine the world will be transformed.” Such fantasies derived from the very banality of these introductions—that every time they took place, one more “technical apparatus” was simply “being made at home with the rest of our world’ (548). Media studies can join in this repetitive banality. Or it can withdraw the welcome mat for media technologies that despoil the Earth and wreck the lives of those who make them. In our view, it’s time to green the media by greening media studies. References “A Cyber-House Divided.” Economist 4 Sep. 2010: 61-62. “Gartner Estimates ICT Industry Accounts for 2 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions.” Gartner press release. 6 April 2007. ‹http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503867›. Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia. Seattle: Basel Action Network, 25 Feb. 2002. Benjamin, Walter. “Central Park.” Trans. Lloyd Spencer with Mark Harrington. New German Critique 34 (1985): 32-58. Biagioli, Mario. “Postdisciplinary Liaisons: Science Studies and the Humanities.” Critical Inquiry 35.4 (2009): 816-33. Boyce, Tammy and Justin Lewis, eds. Climate Change and the Media. New York: Peter Lang, 2009. Commission of the European Communities. “Impact Assessment.” Commission Staff Working Paper accompanying the Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) (recast). COM (2008) 810 Final. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities, 3 Dec. 2008. Environmental Protection Agency. Management of Electronic Waste in the United States. Washington, DC: EPA, 2007 Environmental Protection Agency. Statistics on the Management of Used and End-of-Life Electronics. Washington, DC: EPA, 2008 Grossman, Elizabeth. Tackling High-Tech Trash: The E-Waste Explosion & What We Can Do about It. New York: Demos, 2008. ‹http://www.demos.org/pubs/e-waste_FINAL.pdf› Herat, Sunil. “Review: Sustainable Management of Electronic Waste (e-Waste).” Clean 35.4 (2007): 305-10. Houghton, J. “ICT and the Environment in Developing Countries: Opportunities and Developments.” Paper prepared for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2009. International Telecommunication Union. ICTs for Environment: Guidelines for Developing Countries, with a Focus on Climate Change. Geneva: ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division Policies and Strategies Department ITU Telecommunication Development Sector, 2008. Malmodin, Jens, Åsa Moberg, Dag Lundén, Göran Finnveden, and Nina Lövehagen. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Operational Electricity Use in the ICT and Entertainment & Media Sectors.” Journal of Industrial Ecology 14.5 (2010): 770-90. Marx, Karl. Capital: Vol. 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production, 3rd ed. Trans. Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling, Ed. Frederick Engels. New York: International Publishers, 1987. Mattelart, Armand and Costas M. Constantinou. “Communications/Excommunications: An Interview with Armand Mattelart.” Trans. Amandine Bled, Jacques Guot, and Costas Constantinou. Review of International Studies 34.1 (2008): 21-42. Mattelart, Armand. “Cómo nació el mito de Internet.” Trans. Yanina Guthman. El mito internet. Ed. Victor Hugo de la Fuente. Santiago: Editorial aún creemos en los sueños, 2002. 25-32. Maxwell, Richard and Toby Miller. Greening the Media. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Nye, David E. American Technological Sublime. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. Nye, David E. Technology Matters: Questions to Live With. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. 2007. Orwell, George. “As I Please.” Tribune. 12 May 1944. Richtel, Matt. “Consumers Hold on to Products Longer.” New York Times: B1, 26 Feb. 2011. Robinson, Brett H. “E-Waste: An Assessment of Global Production and Environmental Impacts.” Science of the Total Environment 408.2 (2009): 183-91. Rogers, Heather. Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage. New York: New Press, 2005. Sacks, Harvey. Lectures on Conversation. Vols. I and II. Ed. Gail Jefferson. Malden: Blackwell, 1995. Schiller, Herbert I. Information and the Crisis Economy. Norwood: Ablex Publishing, 1984. Schor, Juliet B. Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth. New York: Penguin, 2010. Science and Technology Council of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Digital Dilemma: Strategic Issues in Archiving and Accessing Digital Motion Picture Materials. Los Angeles: Academy Imprints, 2007. Weber, Max. “Remarks on Technology and Culture.” Trans. Beatrix Zumsteg and Thomas M. Kemple. Ed. Thomas M. Kemple. Theory, Culture [i] The global recession that began in 2007 has been the main reason for some declines in Global North energy consumption, slower turnover in gadget upgrades, and longer periods of consumer maintenance of electronic goods (Richtel). [ii] The emergence of the technological sublime has been attributed to the Western triumphs in the post-Second World War period, when technological power supposedly supplanted the power of nature to inspire fear and astonishment (Nye Technology Matters 28). Historian Mario Biagioli explains how the sublime permeates everyday life through technoscience: "If around 1950 the popular imaginary placed science close to the military and away from the home, today’s technoscience frames our everyday life at all levels, down to our notion of the self" (818). [iii] This compulsory repetition is seemingly undertaken each time as a novelty, governed by what German cultural critic Walter Benjamin called, in his awkward but occasionally illuminating prose, "the ever-always-the-same" of "mass-production" cloaked in "a hitherto unheard-of significance" (48).

Introduction In October 2008, the UK’s National Videogame Archive became a reality and after years of negotiation, preparation and planning, this partnership between Nottingham Trent University’s Centre for Contemporary Play research group and The National Media Museum, accepted its first public donations to the collection. These first donations came from Sony’s Computer Entertainment Europe’s London Studios who presented the original, pre-production PlayStation 2 EyeToy camera (complete with its hand-written #1 sticker) and Harmonix who crossed the Atlantic to deliver prototypes of the Rock Band drum kit and guitar controllers along with a slew of games. Since then, we have been inundated with donations, enquiries and volunteers offering their services and it is clear that we have exciting and challenging times ahead of us at the NVA as we seek to continue our collecting programme and preserve, conserve, display and interpret these vital parts of popular culture. This essay, however, is not so much a document of these possible futures for our research or the challenges we face in moving forward as it is a discussion of some of the issues that make game preservation a vital and timely undertaking. In briefly telling the story of the genesis of the NVA, I hope to draw attention to some of the peculiarities (in both senses) of the situation in which videogames currently exist. While considerable attention has been paid to the preservation and curation of new media arts (e.g. Cook et al.), comparatively little work has been undertaken in relation to games. Surprisingly, the games industry has been similarly neglectful of the histories of gameplay and gamemaking. Throughout our research, it has became abundantly clear that even those individuals and companies most intimately associated with the development of this form, do not hold their corporate and personal histories in the high esteem we expected (see also Lowood et al.). And so, despite the well-worn bluster of an industry that proclaims itself as culturally significant as Hollywood, it is surprisingly difficult to find a definitive copy of the boxart of the final release of a Triple-A title let alone any of the pre-production materials. Through our journeys in the past couple of years, we have encountered shoeboxes under CEOs’ desks and proud parents’ collections of tapes and press cuttings. These are the closest things to a formalised archive that we currently have for many of the biggest British game development and publishing companies. Not only is this problematic in and of itself as we run the risk of losing titles and documents forever as well as the stories locked up in the memories of key individuals who grow ever older, but also it is symptomatic of an industry that, despite its public proclamations, neither places a high value on its products as popular culture nor truly recognises their impact on that culture. While a few valorised, still-ongoing, franchises like the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda series are repackaged and (digitally) re-released so as to provide continuity with current releases, a huge number of games simply disappear from view once their short period of retail limelight passes. Indeed, my argument in this essay rests to some extent on the admittedly polemical, and maybe even antagonistic, assertion that the past business and marketing practices of the videogames industry are partly to blame for the comparatively underdeveloped state of game preservation and the seemingly low cultural value placed on old games within the mainstream marketplace. Small wonder, then, that archives and formalised collections are not widespread. However antagonistic this point may seem, this essay does not set out merely to criticise the games industry. Indeed, it is important to recognise that the success and viability of projects such as the NVA is derived partly from close collaboration with industry partners. As such, it is my hope that in addition to contributing to the conversation about the importance and need for formalised strategies of game preservation, this essay goes some way to demonstrating the necessity of universities, museums, developers, publishers, advertisers and retailers tackling these issues in partnership. The Best Game Is the Next Game As will be clear from these opening paragraphs, this essay is primarily concerned with ‘old’ games. Perhaps surprisingly, however, we shall see that ‘old’ games are frequently not that old at all as even the shiniest, and newest of interactive experiences soon slip from view under the pressure of a relentless industrial and institutional push towards the forthcoming release and the ‘next generation’. More surprising still is that ‘old’ games are often difficult to come by as they occupy, at best, a marginalised position in the contemporary marketplace, assuming they are even visible at all. This is an odd situation. Videogames are, as any introductory primer on game studies will surely reveal, big business (see Kerr, for instance, as well as trade bodies such as ELSPA and The ESA for up-to-date sales figures). Given the videogame industry seems dedicated to growing its business and broadening its audiences (see Radd on Sony’s ‘Game 3.0’ strategy, for instance), it seems strange, from a commercial perspective if no other, that publishers’ and developers’ back catalogues are not being mercilessly plundered to wring the last pennies of profit from their IPs. Despite being cherished by players and fans, some of whom are actively engaged in their own private collecting and curation regimes (sometimes to apparently obsessive excess as Jones, among others, has noted), videogames have, nonetheless, been undervalued as part of our national popular cultural heritage by institutions of memory such as museums and archives which, I would suggest, have largely ignored and sometimes misunderstood or misrepresented them. Most of all, however, I wish to draw attention to the harm caused by the videogames industry itself. Consumers’ attentions are focused on ‘products’, on audiovisual (but mainly visual) technicalities and high-definition video specs rather than on the experiences of play and performance, or on games as artworks or artefact. Most damagingly, however, by constructing and contributing to an advertising, marketing and popular critical discourse that trades almost exclusively in the language of instant obsolescence, videogames have been robbed of their historical value and old platforms and titles are reduced to redundant, legacy systems and easily-marginalised ‘retro’ curiosities. The vision of inevitable technological progress that the videogames industry trades in reminds us of Paul Duguid’s concept of ‘supersession’ (see also Giddings and Kennedy, on the ‘technological imaginary’). Duguid identifies supersession as one of the key tropes in discussions of new media. The reductive idea that each new form subsumes and replaces its predecessor means that videogames are, to some extent, bound up in the same set of tensions that undermine the longevity of all new media. Chun rightly notes that, in contrast with more open terms like multimedia, ‘new media’ has always been somewhat problematic. Unaccommodating, ‘it portrayed other media as old or dead; it converged rather than multiplied; it did not efface itself in favor of a happy if redundant plurality’ (1). The very newness of new media and of videogames as the apotheosis of the interactivity and multimodality they promise (Newman, "In Search"), their gleam and shine, is quickly tarnished as they are replaced by ever-newer, ever more exciting, capable and ‘revolutionary’ technologies whose promise and moment in the limelight is, in turn, equally fleeting. As Franzen has noted, obsolescence and the trail of abandoned, superseded systems is a natural, even planned-for, product of an infatuation with the newness of new media. For Kline et al., the obsession with obsolescence leads to the characterisation of the videogames industry as a ‘perpetual innovation economy’ whose institutions ‘devote a growing share of their resources to the continual alteration and upgrading of their products. However, it is my contention here that the supersessionary tendency exerts a more serious impact on videogames than some other media partly because the apparently natural logic of obsolescence and technological progress goes largely unchecked and partly because there remain few institutions dedicated to considering and acting upon game preservation. The simple fact, as Lowood et al. have noted, is that material damage is being done as a result of this manufactured sense of continual progress and immediate, irrefutable obsolescence. By focusing on the upcoming new release and the preview of what is yet to come; by exciting gamers about what is in development and demonstrating the manifest ways in which the sheen of the new inevitably tarnishes the old. That which is replaced is fit only for the bargain bin or the budget-priced collection download, and as such, it is my position that we are systematically undermining and perhaps even eradicating the possibility of a thorough and well-documented history for videogames. This is a situation that we at the National Videogame Archive, along with colleagues in the emerging field of game preservation (e.g. the International Game Developers Association Game Preservation Special Interest Group, and the Keeping Emulation Environments Portable project) are, naturally, keen to address. Chief amongst our concerns is better understanding how it has come to be that, in 2009, game studies scholars and colleagues from across the memory and heritage sectors are still only at the beginning of the process of considering game preservation. The IGDA Game Preservation SIG was founded only five years ago and its ‘White Paper’ (Lowood et al.) is just published. Surprisingly, despite the importance of videogames within popular culture and the emergence and consolidation of the industry as a potent creative force, there remains comparatively little academic commentary or investigation into the specific situation and life-cycles of games or the demands that they place upon archivists and scholars of digital histories and cultural heritage. As I hope to demonstrate in this essay, one of the key tasks of the project of game preservation is to draw attention to the consequences of the concentration, even fetishisation, of the next generation, the new and the forthcoming. The focus on what I have termed ‘the lure of the imminent’ (e.g. Newman, Playing), the fixation on not only the present but also the as-yet-unreleased next generation, has contributed to the normalisation of the discourses of technological advancement and the inevitability and finality of obsolescence. The conflation of gameplay pleasure and cultural import with technological – and indeed, usually visual – sophistication gives rise to a context of endless newness, within which there appears to be little space for the ‘outdated’, the ‘superseded’ or the ‘old’. In a commercial and cultural space in which so little value is placed upon anything but the next game, we risk losing touch with the continuities of development and the practices of play while simultaneously robbing players and scholars of the critical tools and resources necessary for contextualised appreciation and analysis of game form and aesthetics, for instance (see Monnens, "Why", for more on the value of preserving ‘old’ games for analysis and scholarship). Moreover, we risk losing specific games, platforms, artefacts and products as they disappear into the bargain bucket or crumble to dust as media decay, deterioration and ‘bit rot’ (Monnens, "Losing") set in. Space does not here permit a discussion of the scope and extent of the preservation work required (for instance, the NVA sets its sights on preserving, documenting, interpreting and exhibiting ‘videogame culture’ in its broadest sense and recognises the importance of videogames as more than just code and as enmeshed within complex networks of productive, consumptive and performative practices). Neither is it my intention to discuss here the specific challenges and numerous issues associated with archival and exhibition tools such as emulation which seek to rebirth code on up-to-date, manageable, well-supported hardware platforms but which are frequently insensitive to the specificities and nuances of the played experience (see Newman, "On Emulation", for some further notes on videogame emulation, archiving and exhibition and Takeshita’s comments in Nutt on the technologies and aesthetics of glitches, for instance). Each of these issues is vitally important and will, doubtless become a part of the forthcoming research agenda for game preservation scholars. My focus here, however, is rather more straightforward and foundational and though it is deliberately controversial, it is my hope that its casts some light over some ingrained assumptions about videogames and the magnitude and urgency of the game preservation project. Videogames Are Disappearing? At a time when retailers’ shelves struggle under the weight of newly-released titles and digital distribution systems such as Steam, the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Marketplace, WiiWare, DSiWare et al bring new ways to purchase and consume playable content, it might seem strange to suggest that videogames are disappearing. In addition to what we have perhaps come to think of as the ‘usual suspects’ in the hardware and software publishing marketplace, over the past year or so Apple have, unexpectedly and perhaps even surprising themselves, carved out a new gaming platform with the iPhone/iPod Touch and have dramatically simplified the notoriously difficult process of distributing mobile content with the iTunes App Store. In the face of this apparent glut of games and the emergence and (re)discovery of new markets with the iPhone, Wii and Nintendo DS, videogames seem an ever more a vital and visible part of popular culture. Yet, for all their commercial success and seemingly penetration the simple fact is that they are disappearing. And at an alarming rate. Addressing the IGDA community of game developers and producers, Henry Lowood makes the point with admirable clarity (see also Ruggill and McAllister): If we fail to address the problems of game preservation, the games you are making will disappear, perhaps within a few decades. You will lose access to your own intellectual property, you will be unable to show new developers the games you designed or that inspired you, and you may even find it necessary to re-invent a bunch of wheels. (Lowood et al. 1) For me, this point hit home most persuasively a few years ago when, along with Iain Simons, I was invited by the British Film Institute to contribute a book to their ‘Screen Guides’ series. 100 Videogames (Newman and Simons) was an intriguing prospect that provided us with the challenge and opportunity to explore some of the key moments in videogaming’s forty year history. However, although the research and writing processes proved to be an immensely pleasurable and rewarding experience that we hope culminated in an accessible, informative volume offering insight into some well-known (and some less-well known) games, the project was ultimately tinged with a more than a little disappointment and frustration. Assuming our book had successfully piqued the interest of our readers into rediscovering games previously played or perhaps investigating games for the first time, what could they then do? Where could they go to find these games in order to experience their delights (or their flaws and problems) at first hand? Had our volume been concerned with television or film, as most of the Screen Guides are, then online and offline retailers, libraries, and even archives for less widely-available materials, would have been obvious ports of call. For the student of videogames, however, the choices are not so much limited as practically non-existant. It is only comparatively recently that videogame retailers have shifted away from an almost exclusive focus on new releases and the zeitgeist platforms towards a recognition of old games and systems through the creation of the ‘pre-owned’ marketplace. The ‘pre-owned’ transaction is one in which old titles may be traded in for cash or against the purchase of new releases of hardware or software. Surely, then, this represents the commercial viability of classic games and is a recognition on the part of retail that the new release is not the only game in town. Yet, if we consider more carefully the ‘pre-owned’ model, we find a few telling points. First, there is cold economic sense to the pre-owned business model. In their financial statements for FY08, ‘GAME revealed that the service isn’t just a key part of its offer to consumers, but its also represents an ‘attractive’ gross margin 39 per cent.’ (French). Second, and most important, the premise of the pre-owned business as it is communicated to consumers still offers nothing but primacy to the new release. That one would trade-in one’s old games in order to consume these putatively better new ones speaks eloquently in the language of obsolesce and what Dovey and Kennedy have called the ‘technological imaginary’. The wire mesh buckets of old, pre-owned games are not displayed or coded as treasure troves for the discerning or completist collector but rather are nothing more than bargain bins. These are not classic games. These are cheap games. Cheap because they are old. Cheap because they have had their day. This is a curious situation that affects videogames most unfairly. Of course, my caricature of the videogame retailer is still incomplete as a good deal of the instantly visible shopfloor space is dedicated neither to pre-owned nor new releases but rather to displays of empty boxes often sporting unfinalised, sometimes mocked-up, boxart flaunting titles available for pre-order. Titles you cannot even buy yet. In the videogames marketplace, even the present is not exciting enough. The best game is always the next game. Importantly, retail is not alone in manufacturing this sense of dissatisfaction with the past and even the present. The specialist videogames press plays at least as important a role in reinforcing and normalising the supersessionary discourse of instant obsolescence by fixing readers’ attentions and expectations on the just-visible horizon. Examining the pages of specialist gaming publications reveals them to be something akin to Futurist paeans dedicating anything from 70 to 90% of their non-advertising pages to previews, interviews with developers about still-in-development titles (see Newman, Playing, for more on the specialist gaming press’ love affair with the next generation and the NDA scoop). Though a small number of publications specifically address retro titles (e.g. Imagine Publishing’s Retro Gamer), most titles are essentially vehicles to promote current and future product lines with many magazines essentially operating as delivery devices for cover-mounted CDs/DVDs offering teaser videos or playable demos of forthcoming titles to further whet the appetite. Manufacturing a sense of excitement might seem wholly natural and perhaps even desirable in helping to maintain a keen interest in gaming culture but the effect of the imbalance of popular coverage has a potentially deleterious effect on the status of superseded titles. Xbox World 360’s magnificently-titled ‘Anticip–O–Meter’ ™ does more than simply build anticipation. Like regular features that run under headings such as ‘The Next Best Game in The World Ever is…’, it seeks to author not so much excitement about the imminent release but a dissatisfaction with the present with which unfavourable comparisons are inevitably drawn. The current or previous crop of (once new, let us not forget) titles are not simply superseded but rather are reinvented as yardsticks to judge the prowess of the even newer and unarguably ‘better’. As Ashton has noted, the continual promotion of the impressiveness of the next generation requires a delicate balancing act and a selective, institutionalised system of recall and forgetting that recovers the past as a suite of (often technical) benchmarks (twice as many polygons, higher resolution etc.) In the absence of formalised and systematic collecting, these obsoleted titles run the risk of being forgotten forever once they no longer serve the purpose of demonstrating the comparative advancement of the successors. The Future of Videogaming’s Past Even if we accept the myriad claims of game studies scholars that videogames are worthy of serious interrogation in and of themselves and as part of a multifaceted, transmedial supersystem, we might be tempted to think that the lack of formalised collections, archival resources and readily available ‘old/classic’ titles at retail is of no great significance. After all, as Jones has observed, the videogame player is almost primed to undertake this kind of activity as gaming can, at least partly, be understood as the act and art of collecting. Games such as Animal Crossing make this tendency most manifest by challenging their players to collect objects and artefacts – from natural history through to works of visual art – so as to fill the initially-empty in-game Museum’s cases. While almost all videogames from The Sims to Katamari Damacy can be considered to engage their players in collecting and collection management work to some extent, Animal Crossing is perhaps the most pertinent example of the indivisibility of the gamer/archivist. Moreover, the permeability of the boundary between the fan’s collection of toys, dolls, posters and the other treasured objects of merchandising and the manipulation of inventories, acquisitions and equipment lists that we see in the menus and gameplay imperatives of videogames ensures an extensiveness and scope of fan collecting and archival work. Similarly, the sociality of fan collecting and the value placed on private hoarding, public sharing and the processes of research ‘…bridges to new levels of the game’ (Jones 48). Perhaps we should be as unsurprised that their focus on collecting makes videogames similar to eBay as we are to the realisation that eBay with its competitiveness, its winning and losing states, and its inexorable countdown timer, is nothing if not a game? We should be mindful, however, of overstating the positive effects of fandom on the fate of old games. Alongside eBay’s veneration of the original object, p2p and bittorrent sites reduce the videogame to its barest. Quite apart from the (il)legality of emulation and videogame ripping and sharing (see Conley et al.), the existence of ‘ROMs’ and the technicalities of their distribution reveals much about the peculiar tension between the interest in old games and their putative cultural and economic value. (St)ripped down to the barest of code, ROMs deny the gamer the paratextuality of the instruction manual or boxart. In fact, divorced from its context and robbed of its materiality, ROMs perhaps serve to make the original game even more distant. More tellingly, ROMs are typically distributed by the thousand in zipped files. And so, in just a few minutes, entire console back-catalogues – every game released in every territory – are available for browsing and playing on a PC or Mac. The completism of the collections allows detailed scrutiny of differences in Japanese versus European releases, for instance, and can be seen as a vital investigative resource. However, that these ROMs are packaged into collections of many thousands speaks implicitly of these games’ perceived value. In a similar vein, the budget-priced retro re-release collection helps to diminish the value of each constituent game and serves to simultaneously manufacture and highlight the manifestly unfair comparison between these intriguingly retro curios and the legitimately full-priced games of now and next. Customer comments at Amazon.co.uk demonstrate the way in which historical and technological comparisons are now solidly embedded within the popular discourse (see also Newman 2009b). Leaving feedback on Sega’s PS3/Xbox 360 Sega MegaDrive Ultimate Collection customers berate the publisher for the apparently meagre selection of titles on offer. Interestingly, this charge seems based less around the quality, variety or range of the collection but rather centres on jarring technological schisms and a clear sense of these titles being of necessarily and inevitably diminished monetary value. Comments range from outraged consternation, ‘Wtf, only 40 games?’, ‘I wont be getting this as one disc could hold the entire arsenal of consoles and games from commodore to sega saturn(Maybe even Dreamcast’ through to more detailed analyses that draw attention to the number of bits and bytes but that notably neglect any consideration of gameplay, experientiality, cultural significance or, heaven forbid, fun. “Ultimate” Collection? 32Mb of games on a Blu-ray disc?…here are 40 Megadrive games at a total of 31 Megabytes of data. This was taking the Michael on a DVD release for the PS2 (or even on a UMD for the PSP), but for a format that can store 50 Gigabytes of data, it’s an insult. Sega’s entire back catalogue of Megadrive games only comes to around 800 Megabytes - they could fit that several times over on a DVD. The ultimate consequence of these different but complementary attitudes to games that fix attentions on the future and package up decontextualised ROMs by the thousand or even collections of 40 titles on a single disc (selling for less than half the price of one of the original cartridges) is a disregard – perhaps even a disrespect – for ‘old’ games. Indeed, it is this tendency, this dominant discourse of inevitable, natural and unimpeachable obsolescence and supersession, that provided one of the prime motivators for establishing the NVA. As Lowood et al. note in the title of the IGDA Game Preservation SIG’s White Paper, we need to act to preserve and conserve videogames ‘before it’s too late’.ReferencesAshton, D. ‘Digital Gaming Upgrade and Recovery: Enrolling Memories and Technologies as a Strategy for the Future.’ M/C Journal 11.6 (2008). 13 Jun 2009 ‹http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/viewArticle/86›.Buffa, C. ‘How to Fix Videogame Journalism.’ GameDaily 20 July 2006. 13 Jun 2009 ‹http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/how-to-fix-videogame-journalism/69202/?biz=1›. ———. ‘Opinion: How to Become a Better Videogame Journalist.’ GameDaily 28 July 2006. 13 Jun 2009 ‹http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/opinion-how-to-become-a-better-videogame-journalist/69236/?biz=1. ———. ‘Opinion: The Videogame Review – Problems and Solutions.’ GameDaily 2 Aug. 2006. 13 Jun 2009 ‹http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/opinion-the-videogame-review-problems-and-solutions/69257/?biz=1›. ———. ‘Opinion: Why Videogame Journalism Sucks.’ GameDaily 14 July 2006. 13 Jun 2009 ‹http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/opinion-why-videogame-journalism-sucks/69180/?biz=1›. 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