Cyber-physical manufacturing in the light of Professor Kanji Ueda's legacy

摘要

Cyber-physical manufacturing, i.e., the formerly never seen integration of the physical and virtual worlds in the manufacturing domain is considered the substance of the 4th industrial revolution. Much of the changes deemed now revolutionary are originated in a long and converging progress of manufacturing science and technology, as well as of computer science, information and communication technologies. One of the pioneers and influential thinkers of production engineering who paved the way towards cyber-physical manufacturing was unquestionably Professor Kanji Ueda (1946-2015). With this paper the authors would like to pay a tribute to his achievements, by highlighting his main contributions not only to the advancement of production engineering and industrial technology but also to the sustainability of our society.