RECENT ADVANCES IN INTEGRATED

This volume contains selected manuscripts of the papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Integrated Design and Manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering - IDMME 2002 held in Clermont-Ferrand, France, at the Institut Franyais de Mecanique A vancee (French Institute for Advanced Mechanics), May 14-16,2002. Following the first three IDMME conferences (held in Nantes in 1966, in Compiegne in 1998 and in Montreal in 2000), the purpose of IDMME 2002 conference was to present recent developments in the integration and the optimization of product design and manufacturing systems. The initiative and the organization of the conference exists thanks to the French national network AIP-PRIMECA (AlP - Ateliers Inter­ Etablissements de Productique I Inter-Institute Productics Workshops and PRIMECA - Pole de Ressources Informatiques pour la MECAnique I Computer Resource Pole for Mechanics). The conference benefited from the scientific sponsoring of AFM - Association Franyaise de Mecanique (French Association of Mechanical Engineering), ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineering, CIRP - College International pour l'Etude Scientifique des Techniques de Production Mecanique (International Institution for Production Engineering Research), CSMA - Computational Structural Mechanics Association, IFToMM - International Federation for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms, SCGM/CSME - Societe Canadienne de Genie Mecanique I Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering.