A specific additive manufacturing technology, however, this term has gained common usage to describe all manner of additive manufacturing. See Additive Manufacturing.

The construction of complex three-dimensional parts from 3D digital model data by depositing successive layers of material. Metal, polymer, and ceramic materials can be used to manufacture parts of a geometry that often cannot be produced by any other manufacturing technology. The names of specific additive manufacturing technologies include: 3D pr [..]

Use of innovative technologies to create existing products and the creation of new products. Advanced manufacturing can include production activities that depend on information, automation, computation, software, sensing, and networking (2).

Tools, techniques, and initiatives (such as lean and flexible manufacturing) to help a plant and/or organization rapidly respond to their customers, the market, and innovations. It can also incorporate “mass customization” concepts to meet unique customer needs as well as “quick response manufacturing” to reduce lead times across an enterprise (3) [..]

Using control systems to operate an apparatus, process, or system with minimal or reduced direct human intervention (5).

Formal programs that compare a plant’s practices and performance results against “best-in-class” competitors or against similar operations.

A point of congestion in a manufacturing system that arises when parts arrive at a given machine/operation faster than that machine/operation can process them (6).

When dissimilar equipment and workstations to produce a family of similar components or subassemblies are arranged close together to save space and time, and simplify process routing and supervision. Workers are typically cross-trained to perform multiple tasks within a manufacturing cell (7).

Materials comprised of two or more components with significantly different physical or chemical properties, that when combined, produce a material that behaves differently from the individual components. The individual components remain separate and distinct within the finished structure. Examples of engineered composite materials include: carbon f [..]