Advances in Geometrical Product Specification and Verification in the Era of Industry 4.0

Dear Colleagues,

In the highly demanding and fast-paced marketplace of today, the competitiveness and sustainability of industrial manufacturing companies are strongly connected with their digital transformation. In the era of Industry 4.0, widely adopted terms such as smart manufacturing and digital twin conceptualize the next-generation manufacturing framework.

From conception and development to product retirement, the 3D-CAD data file is currently at the heart of mechanical engineering design and of all downstream digital activities. Alongside with the nominal geometrical description, the 3D-CAD data file is becoming the central repository of critical Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) that safeguards interchangeability, functionality and impacts the manufacturing cost. PMI mainly concerns dimensional and geometrical tolerances, surface quality requirements and process relevant data. In the context of Industry 4.0, PMI should not only be expressed in an unambiguous way, but also in way that is universally comprehensive for both humans (designers, production engineers and metrologists) and machines (CAE tools), within a products’ life cycle. In this regard, the geometrical product specification and verification system, based on the evolution of numerous interlinked standards, is aiming to provide a powerful toolbox for the communication of the design intent and engineering requirements.

This Special Issue aims to collect a broad spectrum of original research and review studies that are addressing the strong industrial need for robust geometrical product specification and verification tools and methods. Submissions are particularly welcomed in the areas of dimensional and geometrical tolerancing, coordinate and production metrology, uncertainty management in geometrical product specification and verification and related subjects. The submission of papers on case studies and original solutions as part of industrial activities are also of particular interest for this Special Issue.

Dr. George Kaisarlis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Machines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• geometric dimensioning and tolerancing
• coordinate metrology
• uncertainty analysis and estimation
• anvanced tolerancing
• model-based definition
• geometrical product specification
• standardization
• digital twin
• 3D sensing
• industry 4.0