Currently, a wide variety of countries around the world are emphasizing productivity for all proposed Industry 4.0-related technologies; nevertheless, they have not emphasized means of improving product quality. Professor Cheng’s fully automatic virtual measurement (AVM) technology has the capability of achieving the goal of creating products with close to zero defects. Because AVM can provide information on all product inspections online and in real-time, when a product defect is discovered, the product can be removed and not sent out for delivery.

As for the defective products which are excluded, the Key Parameter Search Algorithm (KSA), which was created in Professor Chen’s Intelligent Yield Management (IYM) system, can be utilized to identify the causes of the defects in order to fundamentally solve the problems and continually improve the products. In doing this, all products manufactured can be moved more closely into the realm of products with zero defects. Therefore, after AVM and KSA technologies have been incorporated into Industry 4.0 systems, it will be possible to manufacture products approaching the realm of zero-defect products, and this is what Professor Fan-Tien Cheng defines as Industry 4.1.

In addition to publishing articles in international journals, Professor Fan-Tien Cheng’s accomplishments include being awarded multiple invention patents in Taiwan, the U.S.A, Japan, Germany, Korea, and Mainland China. Moreover, he has also completed 46 technology transfers to a number of companies in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, panels, and solar energy as well as companies in traditional industries, including aerospace, machine tools, blowtorches, and carbon fiber and for use in financial corporations.

(TR/ Phil Sweeney)