Introduction

Abstract

It is sometimes claimed that industry and academia are two very different cultures, with the former concerned with how to deliver reasonably-priced high quality products to customers in a timely fashion, while the latter focus on education, research, and service. Yet this difference does not mean there is no common ground. A common mission does exist between companies that value hitozukuri (education and training) and monozukuri (roughly, manufacturing) and academic institutions that focus on education and research. A win-win relationship, therefore, is possible between academia and industry in research and technology development. This book was created as a successful example of this win-win relationship between a world class automobile maker and University of Kentucky to study surface coating and inspection technology.