Today, the current trends of manufacturing are towards the adaptation and implementation of smart manufacturing, which is a new initiative to turn the traditional factories into profitable innovation facilities. However, the concept and technologies are still in a state of infancy, since many manufacturers around the world are not fully knowledgeable about the benefits of smart manufacturing compared to their current practices. This article reviews several aspects of smart manufacturing and introduces its advantages in terms of energy-saving and production efficiency. This article also points out that some areas need further research so that smart manufacturing can be shaped better.

Selective inhibition sintering (SIS) is a new layer-based rapid prototyping process that fabricates parts by joining polymer powder particles in the part's body to form a coherent solid and by preventing particles from joining at the part's boundary to form edges. This paper presents the fundamentals of the SIS process, its dedicated path generator, material selection research and the application of response surface methodology which has led to optimum performance, given various factors affecting part strength, surface quality and dimensional accuracy.