Industrial challenges in grinding J.F.G. Oliveira (1) a, *, E.J. Silva b , C. Guo (2) c , F. Hashimoto (1) d a IPT – Institute for Technological Research of the State of Sa˜o Paulo, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil b Nucleus of Advanced Manufacturing, Department of Production Engineering, University of Sa˜o Paulo, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil c United Technologies Research Center, East Hartford, CT, USA d Technology Center, The Timken Company, Canton, OH, USA 1. Introduction In 1983 Kegg presented a CIRP keynote paper titled ‘‘Industrial Problems in Grinding’’ [30]. That survey showed the view from the industrial grinding users on what would be the issues they would like to see university research carried out. The main topics included: lack of process predictability, batch production pro- blems, inventory reduction, reduced skills and need for more automation. In the following year of 1984, Peters published another keynote paper showing the CIRP contribution to industrial problems in grinding [49]. It was a comprehensive review of the most relevant papers published in the CIRP annals with focus on the industrial needs pointed out by Kegg. Peters affirmed that research was definitely ahead of the industrial needs. This is true, since many specific problems presented by industry at that time included today’s well established technologies such as: fast and automatic wheel balancing systems, flexible and automated dressing devices, grinding simulation and burn prediction systems, more application of CNC in grinding/dressing, multiple grinding in one setup and others. However some of the industrial needs pointed out by Kegg in 1983 are still not solved in industry due to its high complexity. Examples are: in process roundness and roughness measurement, automatic thermal compensation of machine tools (to be able to work without in process gauging) or better predictability of the process. Many grinding developments have been achieved by industry since the publication of those two papers. One good example is the development of innovations in abrasive products shown by Webster and Tricard in 2004 [65]. Regardless the advances in grinding research and its industrial applications there is still a gap between academic and industrial worlds. One good example is the limited application of higher speeds in grinding with cubic boron nitride (CBN) wheel in industry. Grinding can perform better at higher speeds why do most CBN applications run at only 80 m/s? Therefore, it is relevant to understand the present industrial situation regarding grinding development. Reducing the gap between industrial needs and academic research should help in the orientation for future projects and planning of activities in the CIRP STC G. The idea is to focus on the industrial opportunities for grinding research. These opportunities can be mapped in different ways. The first is the evaluation of some product trends and related grinding challenges, or opportunities. Since most industries prefer to purchase turn-key grinding solutions, the machine tool builder opinion should also give a good view of the opportunities to fill the gap. Today, many CIRP members work on research for industry and the description of these cases is also a source of information on the tendencies in grinding and industrial opportunities. A last way to get information is to understand the view from grinding experts in industry running research projects. These ideas were used to structure the data collection and the topics of this paper and are presented in the following pages. This keynote is not aimed at covering all industrial opportunities in grinding but to show several aspects of the main trends that can represent opportunities for grinding research. The authors would like to acknowledge the members of STC G for their contributions in the discussions, specially the following colleagues who sent cases studies and structured information for the preparation of this paper:  Anil Srivastava – TechSolve, Inc., Cincinatti, USA  Christoph Zeppenfeld – Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering, WZL, Aachen, Germany CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 663–680 ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Grinding Optimization Industry ABSTRACT This keynote paper aims at analyzing relevant industrial demands for grinding research. The chosen focus is to understand what are the main research challenges in the extensive industrial use of the process. Since the automotive applications are the most important driving forces for grinding development, the paper starts with an analysis on the main trends in more efficient engines and the changes in their components that will affect the grinding performance. A view from 23 machine tool builders is also presented based on a survey made in interviews and during the EMO and IMTS machine tool shows. Case studies received by the STC G members were used to show how research centers and industries are collaborating. A view from the authors and the final conclusions show hot topics for future grinding research. ß 2009 CIRP. * Corresponding author. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology journal homepage: http://ees.elsevier.com/cirp/default.asp 0007-8506/$ – see front matter ß 2009 CIRP. doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2009.09.006