Proceedings of the 6th CIRP-Sponsored International Conference on Digital Enterprise Technology

This Proceedings volume contains articles presented at the CIRP-Sponsored Inter- tional Conference on Digital Enterprise Technology (DET2009) that takes place December 14–16, 2009 in Hong Kong. This is the 6th DET conference in the series and the first to be held in Asia. Professor Paul Maropoulos initiated, hosted and chaired the 1st International DET Conference held in 2002 at the University of D- ham. Since this inaugural first DET conference, DET conference series has been s- cessfully held in 2004 at Seattle, Washington USA, in 2006 at Setubal Portugal, in 2007 at Bath England, and in 2008 at Nantes France. The DET2009 conference continues to bring together International expertise from the academic and industrial fields, pushing forward the boundaries of research kno- edge and best practice in digital enterprise technology for design and manufacturing, and logistics and supply chain management. Over 120 papers from over 10 countries have been accepted for presentation at DET2009 and inclusion in this Proceedings volume after stringent refereeing process. On behalf of the organizing and program committees, the Editors are grateful to the many people who have made DET2009 possible: to the authors and presenters, es- cially the keynote speakers, to those who have diligently reviewed submissions, to members of International Scientific Committee, Organizing Committee and Advisory Committes, and to colleagues for their hard work in sorting out all the arrangements. We would also like to extend our gratitude to DET2009 sponsors, co-organizers, and supporting organizations.