1Overview of

Micro-ManufacturingYi Qin

INTRODUCTION

Manufacturing, as a general term referring toindustry, is to make products that have beendesigned for certain applications. The meaningof ‘manufacture’ has, however, changed, espe-cially during the last 20 years, in terms of whatis beingmade, how it ismade, howmanufacturingis organized, etc. Manufacturing has been influ-enced not only by the increased demands onproducing routine products and creating new pro-ducts but also by social, economic and even polit-ical changes. The desire for a better quality of life,good health and high working efficiency has beenone of major drives in the innovation of manyproducts, such as new models of computers,cars, mobile phones, CD players, MP3 players,wide flat-screen displays, medical instruments/implants, etc. Dramatic changes in global, eco-nomic development during the last 15 years havesignificantly influenced how manufacturing isorganized and implemented, e.g. new conceptsconcerning supply chains, new patterns for colla-borations, etc., to such an extent that in a lot ofcases, how to organize manufacturing becomeseven more important than how the products areto be manufactured. How to achieve a balancebetween quality and cost is another major issue,since many industries are fighting for survival.Nevertheless, some general issues still applyto all sectors concerned, e.g. issues on how toquickly deploy new technologies and management

methods to improve manufacturing capability,efficiency and quality, no matter whether theybelong to traditional, developed countries/regionsor developing countries/regions. For the developedcountries to compete with low-cost production,the manufacturing industry will need more inno-vations and changes of the focus. Reducing thecost by significantly improving efficiency and sup-ply chains, maintaining technological advantagesby continuously developing leading technologies/capabilities, and delivering higher quality andinnovative products are being pursued. For thedeveloping countries, low-cost manufacturingmay only be a short-term solution and not theultimate goal, as this will have limited impact/effect in the long term. From these considerations,as a contribution to competitive manufacturing,this book provides a useful reference for the man-ufacture of emerging miniature/micro-products,especially for improving mass-manufacturingcapabilities and their applications for the manu-facture of these products.

There are ever increasing demands on minia-turized/micro products/systems and components,e.g. MEMS (micro-electric-mechanical systems)and micro-systems, micro-reactors, fuel cells,micro-mechanical devices, micro-medical compo-nents, etc., which are now popularly used in vehi-cles, aircraft, telecommunication and IT facilities,home appliances, medical devices and implants.Manufacture of these products has received great

C H A P T E R

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