Raghunath Venugopal’s scientific contributions

In order to reach the capabilities of the “factory of the future”, controlling the information flow to the shop floor is as important, if not more important, than automating the shop floor operations. In this paper, the whole process of design through manufacturing is treated as a unified Product Realization Process. It is explained why a new Product Realization Process is necessary in the electronics industries and one is presented. The main feature of the new Product Realization Process is the total control over the information flow. The information flow is iterative, selective, and directed, which results in a process that is efficient and reacts fast to changes.