The 25^th International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE2018)

is an international forum to disseminate the most recent and relevant research, theories and practices on the new frontiers of engineering, evolving the paradigm of Concurrent Engineering and Collaborative Engineering.

TE2018 conference will take place in Modena (Italy), from July 3 to 6, 2018. Modena is located into the Emilia region, which is famous for Advanced Manufacturing, Automotive and Food industries. In particular, Modena is the beating heart of the “Motor Valley” (which includes companies like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, CHN Industrial, Ducati, Pagani).

The conference will link researchers and practitioners from industry and academia specialising in design and engineering disciplines from around the world. On July 2, a set of pre-conference interactive workshops will bring together students, researchers, professors and experts discussing crucial topics of Transdisciplinary Engineering. After the conference, on July 6, technical tour and industrial visit will make conference delegates know more about local initiatives, joint research between industry and University, and the most promising industrial innovations.

Why Transdisciplinary Engineering?

Transdisciplinary Engineering is an emerging field that extends and evolves the initial basic concepts known as Concurrent Engineering (CE). CE has matured and has become the foundations of many new ideas, methodologies, initiatives, approaches and tools. Generally, CE concentrates on enterprise collaboration and its many different elements; from integrating people and processes to very specific complete multi/inter/trans-disciplinary solutions, taking the user into account. Current research on CE is driven by many factors like increased customer demands, globalization, (international) collaboration and environmental strategies. The successful application of CE in the past opens also the perspective for future applications like overcoming natural catastrophes, sustainable mobility concepts with electrical vehicles, and intensive, integrated, data processing, with an increasing importance of Transdisciplinarity. User and application environments are more and more included into design and development to customize new products and implement solutions that are really needed and wanted. Research incorporates then also social science methodologies to acquire the necessary knowledge about users and context and to better implement solutions in their context. Engineering needs these approaches to be more successful with their innovation efforts.

Transdisciplinarity is characterising modern research areas, in which natural sciences are integrated with social sciences, requiring mixed methodologies for achieving the work. It is expected to be a significant basis for future evolution, especially in all Engineering areas.

TE2018 proceedings will be published by IOSpress in OPEN ACCESS BOOK and fully indexed by Thomson Reuters/SCI, Scopus, Compendex/Ei and others.

Authors of distinguished papers will be invited to submit extended versions of their work to one of the following international journals:

Advanced Engineering Informatics
International Journal of Agile Systems and Management
Journal of Aerospace Operations
Journal of Industrial Information Integration

The TE2018 conference theme is
“Transdisciplinary Engineering Methods for Social Innovation of Industry 4.0”

and focuses on the multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity that drive future innovation in the context of Intelligent Factories and Industry 4.0. The concept of Industry 4.0 outlines the vision of a smart factory characterised by the complete networking of all production parts and processes: real time control via cyber-physical systems, increased use of robots, intelligent and adaptable production systems, which should contribute to greater productivity through resource efficiency. Convergence of production and interaction, work and communication requires increasingly transdisciplinary competencies for staying economically competitive. In addition to expert knowledge, flexibility, creativity and innovation, these are critical success factors for companies and their employees. However, Industry 4.0 is not just about machines but people. The Internet of things, data and services are merging the physical and digital world. This is where knowledge-based services have a huge task ahead. People are the bearers of this knowledge and the drivers of innovation.

In this context, Industry 4.0 also needs to be promoted through appropriate innovation and engineering approaches. A special attention should be also paid to human aspects and social reflections: sustainable development, resource-efficient production system, innovative and successful economy, active participatory and collaborative processes, impact of technologies oh human beings and societies. Social innovation is a targeted reconfiguration of human-focused practices with the aim of better solving problems or satisfying needs by makes a contribution to human and social progress.

The topics include but are not limited to:

Engineering Methods for Industry 4.0
Sustainable Manufacturing Engineering
Ergonomics, Human Factors and Social Sustainability
Digital manufacturing, Modelling and Simulation
Virtual Training and X-in-the-Loop Virtual Prototyping
Cost Modeling, Analysis and Engineering
Decision Supporting Tools and Methods
Concurrent Engineering
Agent-based modelling
Additive and Subtractive Manufacturing
New methods for Smart Factories and Industrial IoT
Big Data Analytics in Manufacturing and Services

Design of Personalized Products and Services
Lean Thinking and Agile Manufacturing
Health and Safety Engineering
Enterprise Knowledge Management
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization
Complex Systems Engineering
Value Engineering and Risk analysis
Maintenance and Through-life Engineering
Engineering methods for smart manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain and Logistics
Advanced Robotics for Smart Manufacturing
Human-robot collaboration