Editorial

Abstract

The last decade has seen the onset of a new economy that involves new businesses, new ways of conducting business, and new tools and techniques for product development and manufacturing. The new economy is driven by technological innovations in computing, electronic communications, and information science. Mechanical engineers are using new software and IT tools in design, analysis, procurement, and manufacturing to reduce product development cost and time by orders of magnitude, and to explore large numbers of alternatives via virtual and rapid prototyping. Mechanical engineers are not only using these technologies, they are also involved in their development in collaboration with computer scientists and IT researchers.