Preface to the 5th International Conference on Innovative Product Design and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems ^†

The 5th International Conference on Innovative Product Design and Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (ICIPDIMS’23) was held at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India during 6–7 December 2023. The IPDIMS’23 conference was attended by both on-line and physical participants.

This conference was convened thanks to NIT Rourkela, which is one of the premier national level institutions for technical education in the country and is funded by the Government of India. NIT Rourkela was established in 1962 to provide quality education in a diverse and multi-cultural environment. The mission of the institute is to become an internationally acclaimed institution of higher learning that will serve as a source of knowledge and expertise for society and be the preferred destination for undergraduate and graduate studies. As such, the Department of Industrial Design at the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela was established in 2010 to promote emerging areas in the field of design.

This present conference formed the 5th annual IPDIMS series, which was first originated in 2019 by the Department of Industrial Design, the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. This conference aimed to expand the program by including all aspects related to product innovation and manufacturing with the aid of computer technology. Moreover, the aim of the conference was to provide a forum for delegates from industries and academia to exchange ideas and present their research works. In addition, it was an ideal setting for encouraging interactions and for establishing essential contact among delegates.

This conference was confined to eight tropical tracks, which are well balanced in content and created an adequate discussion space for recent inventions. The IPDIMS conference presented the following research tracks:

Track i:

Design in aesthetics, ergonomics, CAD and UX/UI;

Track ii:

Design for cost and sustainability;

Track iii:

Design for creativity and optimization;

Track iv:

Smart manufacturing, precision engineering and metrology;

Track v:

Artificial intelligence in manufacturing processes;

Track vi:

Optimization and simulation;

Track vii:

Virtual manufacturing;

Track viii:

Robotics and automation, mechatronics;

Track ix:

Materials selection for product design.

The 5th IPDIMS conference was inaugurated by the following dignitaries (Figure 1):

• Chief Guest: Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao, Director, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India;
• Guest of Honour: Dr. Asit Kumar Mishra, Healthy Buildings Researcher, University College Cork, Ireland;
• Program Genera Chair, IPDIMS: Prof. B B Biswal, Vice-chancellor, OUTR, Bhubaneshwar, India;
• Chairman, IPDIMS: Prof. D R K Parhi, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India;
• Convener, IPDIMS: Prof. B B V L Deepak, Department of Industrial Design, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India;
• Prof D P Jena, Head of the Department, Department of Industrial Design, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India.

Prof. K. Umamaheshwar Rao, Director, NIT Rourkela, was given an inaugural speech on “Challenges of Digital Innovations”. In addition, the program comprised one academic keynote and one industrial keynote talks delivered by the following speakers:

• Dr. Asit Kumar Mishra (University College Cork, Ireland)—Designing Buildings for health and sustainability;
• Er. Anindita Mahaptra (RSP, Steel Authority of India Limited, India)—Creativity and Innovation in Design Thinking.

Apart from the above talks, the national and international advisory boards of the IPDIMS series peer-reviewed the 205 submitted research articles and shortlisted 120 papers for oral presentation in 14 thematic technical sessions. All of the technical sessions were chaired by eminent professors from reputed institutions for the purposes of evaluating the research quality of the presentations. Finally, 56 papers were selected by the technical program committee of the IPDIMS series for publication in a volume of MDPI’s journal, Engineering Proceedings.

On behalf of the Organising Committee, we thank all the authors, delegates, institutions and organisations that participated in the conference. We also thank the members of the National and International Programme Committee for their support during the peer-reviewing process, which is highly essential for maintaining the quality of the conference.

We also thank the dedicated group of student volunteers of NIT Rourkela for assisting in the organisation of the conference. Finally, we thank the MDPI editorial support team for their continuous assistance during publication.