Knowledge-based quality control in manufacturing processes with application to the automotive industry

This dissertation is the result of my work at the Insitute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management (iwb) at the Technische Universität München. It is a tribute to all those who helped me along the way and to whom I am ever obliged. I owe my supervisor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Zäh the deepest gratitude for his relentless support and guidance through the past years. I am grateful to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gunther Reinhart for his keen interest in the topic and eye-opening discussions. I am obliged to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Krüger and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Schiller their willingness to be part of the examination committee and for the time and effort they invested. I cordially thank my colleagues at iwb, the Mechatronics group for the ongoing and stimulating feedback, Florian Grätz for the several successful projects we shared and for proof-reading this thesis and Christopher Rimpau for being a great friend and bearing with the ups and downs of his office colleague. I want to thank Bernd Lorösch, Perceptron Inc., and Jürgen Metz, BMW Group for the openness and significant contribution to the practical part of the thesis. I am bound to my former supervisors at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Alexandria University, Prof. Sohair Rezeka, Prof. Taher Awad and Dr. Amr Saafan for their encouragement and advice. I am grateful to my family for constantly blessing me with their prayers in spite of the distance. I am indebted to my dear father for being an example of hard work and principled living, my mother for her wholehearted love and my brother for his support and care. Words fail to describe my appreciation to my wife Hoda. I owe her all the love and gratitude for sharing the journey; easing its hardships and making its smiles more joyful, for blessing our small family with the birth of our daughter Hana. Thank you for your love, dedication and confidence in me.