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The Hong Kong SAR Government increased its expenditure on education by 13.2 per cent from 1998‐1999 to 2002‐2003 in order to improve education and upgrade school facilities, despite the fact that the economy was in bad shape. To investigate the current facility management (FM) of secondary schools in Hong Kong, a study of the needs of the end‐users (students and teachers) was conducted. The paper aims at identifying major FM components and investigating the relationships between the identified FM components and overall satisfaction with FM in three common locations within secondary schools (classrooms, IT laboratories and libraries).

A questionnaire survey of 1,472 local students was conducted to evaluate the FM performance of schools, as well as to establish the relationships between the levels of satisfaction with each FM component and overall satisfaction with FM. A number of formal interviews with local students, teachers and professional school designers were also conducted so that the gap between users' needs and designers' considerations could be identified by cross‐checking the differences between the data gathered from the questionnaires and the interviews.

The study revealed that different locations within secondary schools emphasise different FM components (e.g. flexibility, temperature and safety and security in classrooms; seat allocation, density, colour and decoration, technical support and safety and security in IT laboratories; and seat allocation, lighting, temperature and furniture in libraries). Hygiene, natural lighting and sufficient facilities were found to be key FM components in all three locations in secondary schools.

The interviews focussed on two schools only, while the questionnaire was conducted on four schools. However, since the interviewees included end‐users (teachers and students) and designers of both schools, we believe that the differential responses to the FM components reflected in the study do not indicate that our results are biased. On the other hand, the study only examined students in Forms 2, 4 and 6. The results might be slightly different if the questionnaires were filled in by all the students in the schools. A study of all students in secondary schools is recommended in order to understand and confirm the requirements of FM from the point of view of end‐users.

Designers need to understand end‐users' expectations in the preliminary stage of design in order to enhance learning among students and ensure that school buildings are designed to achieve educational purposes. Some important elements are the arrangement of classroom seats in rows, the avoidance of desk movement in class, the provision of natural lighting, the installation of an adjustable temperature control, the improvement of natural ventilation, the measurement of noise, the installation of a lock for each drawer, the provision of sufficient facilities in each room and the selection of building materials for hygiene purposes. On the other hand, facility managers also need to ensure good hygiene and upgrade technical support, especially in IT laboratories.

This paper identified 13 major FM components and evaluated the relationship between the identified FM components and overall satisfaction with FM. The results indicate that different FM components are emphasised in three common locations within secondary schools (classrooms, IT laboratories and libraries). Designers and facility managers need to understand end‐users' expectations in the design stage and the operation stage, respectively, in order to enhance learning among students and ensure that school buildings are designed to achieve educational purposes.

As an advanced manufacturing method, additive manufacturing (AM) technology provides new possibilities for efficient production and design of parts. However, with the continuous expansion of the application of AM materials, subtractive processing has become one of the necessary steps to improve the accuracy and performance of parts. In this paper, the processing process of AM materials is discussed in depth, and the surface integrity problem caused by it is discussed.

Firstly, we listed and analyzed the characterization parameters of metal surface integrity and its influence on the performance of parts and then introduced the application of integrated processing of metal adding and subtracting materials and the influence of different processing forms on the surface integrity of parts. The surface of the trial-cut material is detected and analyzed, and the surface of the integrated processing of adding and subtracting materials is compared with that of the pure processing of reducing materials, so that the corresponding conclusions are obtained.

In this process, we also found some surface integrity problems, such as knife marks, residual stress and thermal effects. These problems may have a potential negative impact on the performance of the final parts. In processing, we can try to use other integrated processing technologies of adding and subtracting materials, try to combine various integrated processing technologies of adding and subtracting materials, or consider exploring more efficient AM technology to improve processing efficiency. We can also consider adopting production process optimization measures to reduce the processing cost of adding and subtracting materials.

With the gradual improvement of the requirements for the surface quality of parts in the production process and the in-depth implementation of sustainable manufacturing, the demand for integrated processing of metal addition and subtraction materials is likely to continue to grow in the future. By deeply understanding and studying the problems of material reduction and surface integrity of AM materials, we can better meet the challenges in the manufacturing process and improve the quality and performance of parts. This research is very important for promoting the development of manufacturing technology and achieving success in practical application.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel hybrid plasma deposition and milling (HPDM). For solving the bottleneck problem of low‐surface quality in existing direct rapid metal prototyping technologies.

HPDM uses plasma deposition as an additive and conventional milling as subtractive technique, which synthesizes the advantages of both processes. Compared to other laser or electron beam deposition processes, plasma deposition used in HPDM is one of the most economic ways of depositing metals, CNC assisted to ensure the precision of the manufactured parts simultaneity.

This paper focus on the experimental investigation to find the basic process characteristics, the optimization of the process parameters such as transferred arc current, workpiece's speed, powder flow rate and feed per tooth using a statistical approach. Some metal parts, for instance, metal torsional vane, are then trial‐manufactured.

The manufacturing cycle of HPDM is longer than simplex direct metal rapid prototyping, and the surface accuracy should be further investigated.

HPDM is a very useful and effective method to manufacture metal parts with fine surface state directly.

This paper describes a novel process and manufacturing system for fabrication metal prototyping direct, which can improve the inside and outside quality of the metal rapid prototypes.

The purpose of this paper is to review additive and/or subtractive manufacturing methods for metallic objects and their gradual evolution from prototyping tools to rapid manufacture of actual parts.

Various existing rapid manufacturing (RM) methods have been classified into six groups, namely, CNC machining laminated manufacturing, powder‐bed technologies, deposition technologies, hybrid technologies and rapid casting technologies and discussed in detail. The RM methods have been further classified, based on criteria such as material, raw material form, energy source, etc. The process capabilities springing from these classifications are captured in the form of a table, which acts as a database.

Due to the approximation in RM in exchange for total automation, a variety of multi‐faceted and hybrid approaches has to be adopted. This study helps in choosing the appropriate RM process among these myriad technologies.

This review facilitates identification of appropriate RM process for a given situation and sets the framework for design for RM.