Special Issue: MSEC 2023

The 18th ASME International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC 2023), sponsored by the Manufacturing Engineering Division (MED) of ASME, was held from June 12 to June 16, 2023, in New Brunswick, NJ. MSEC 2023 received 175 submissions. After rigorous peer review, 165 technical papers were accepted for publication. The technical papers had global representation, with authors from the USA, India, China, Romania, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Canada, and several other countries from Asia, Europe, and South America. For the first time, we had five authors, who had recently published in Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering (JMSE), present their paper at MSEC 2023. Among the accepted technical papers, MSEC symposium organizers nominated 23 candidate papers to be fast-tracked to the ASME JMSE. All the candidate papers, together with their reviews, were sent to the JMSE Editor-in-Chief for a new round of journal paper review. The JMSE Editor-in-Chief invited 21 papers, to be further reviewed by the journal. A total of 11 top MSEC papers received positive journal reviews and were compiled and published in this JMSE Special Issue on MSEC 2023.

The papers selected for this special issue cover a wide range of topics. They come from seven technical tracks of the ASME MED, including additive manufacturing, biomanufacturing, life cycle engineering, manufacturing equipment and automation, manufacturing processes, manufacturing systems, and nano/micro/meso manufacturing. As a leading international conference held annually on manufacturing process technology, MSEC acts as a global bridge between industries, government laboratories, and academic institutions. This special issue showcases recent manufacturing research advancements presented in MSEC 2023. This special issue also provides a platform for researchers and practitioners to widely disseminate their research findings and innovative practices that may inspire future scientific and technological breakthroughs.

We would like to thank all the symposium organizers of MSEC 2023 for their dedicated management of the symposia and for guarding the quality of the papers to be fast-tracked, which has contributed a great deal to the success of this special issue. We would also like to thank all the reviewers of the paper submissions for their detailed suggestions to improve the papers’ quality. Special thanks are due to the ASME MED Executive and Technical Committees and the ASME staff, especially Lori Lee and Emily Bosco, throughout the paper review and production processes. Their outstanding contributions in managing the submitted technical papers ensure the high-quality publication of this special issue for MSEC 2023.

JMSE seeks close partnerships with MED and MSEC to serve our manufacturing community. Authors of accepted JMSE papers before March 1, 2023 have been offered the opportunity to present in MSEC. Many authors selected this option and presented their journal-quality research work in MSEC 2023. Similarly, papers accepted by JMSE before March 1, 2024 may present in MSEC 2024. This has opened the opportunity for colleagues in our manufacturing community to submit their top research papers to JMSE and then disseminate them in a presentation to our manufacturing community in MSEC.

This special issue marks another small but important step for JMSE to connect with MED and MSEC. Future Technical Program Chairs and JMSE Editors will continue to make this a seamless process. JMSE seeks top research papers from our colleagues and strives to serve our community as a platform for timely publication of high-impact research work. In closing, we want to encourage you to plan and submit your top manufacturing research papers to MSEC 2024.