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A rapid changeover capability is central to today's thinking in respect of responsive, small batch manufacturing. Mass customization and other modem manufacturing paradigms have prompted companies to adapt swiftly to market turbulence and at the same time avoid the traditionally high unit costs associated with custom-made or small-volume products. To support rapid and high quality changeover, global changeover improvement opportunities are assessed and a contextual framework is developed. This is referred to as the 4P framework. The framework differentiates between various areas (People, Practice, Products and Process) in which improvement can be sought and helps in balancing improvement efforts. Historically, an operations-focused approach has been adopted in reducing changeover times; however, it is argued that there is a significant benefit if there is a stronger focus on equipment and system design. There is a considerable challenge to design and build cost-effective changeover-capable equipment. A number of methodologies for the design of changeable manufacturing systems have been proposed in the literature. Although they can be used to generally guide design, they lack systematic techniques to benchmark design alternatives. As a result machine designers have often no other option as to design 'changeoverability' on an ad hoc basis. A systematic DFC methodology which builds upon existing DFX and other engineering design methodologies is proposed in this thesis. Various techniques to benchmark changeover capabilities of equipment design are also proposed. The generic DFC methodology combines the evaluation of changeover capabilities and the identification of improvement possibilities. Three detailed case studies utilising the proposed methodology are presented. These case studies show the effectiveness of the proposed techniques to evaluate and improve changeover performance of manufacturing equipment from the outset.

Irregular terrain is difficult for small robots to traverse, so the research in this thesis endeavours to develop a jumping robot as a solution to this problem. Gliding is proposed as a means of reducing the landing impact forces, and potentially extending the range of each jump. The biomechanics of jumping and gliding are introduced from fundamental principles, before various examples from nature are described and contrasted. Flying squirrels glide quickly between trees by stretching out their patagia, membranous skin folds spreading between the wrists and ankles. Several hypotheses exist to explain the evolution of gliding flight in these animals. These are investigated by filming northern flying squirrels leaping across a range of short distances while measuring the corresponding take-off and landing forces. Evidence is provided that the evolution of controlled flight was most likely stimulated by the need to reduce landing impact forces. A model is proposed for the skin structure of flying squirrel patagia, which is likely to be specialised from normal mammalian skin to facilitate gliding flight and the high speed transition to other arboreal locomotion. This predicts that the skin would be thin and its stiffness highest along the length of the animal, with the behaviour more elastic perpendicularly. Uni-axial tensile test results from a single southern flying squirrel are consistent with the hypotheses. A biomimetic jumping and gliding robot, Glumper, is described which relies on a power-amplifying energy storage and catchrelease mechanism. A novel, bi-stable dog clutch device was developed that enables the robot to launch itself automatically using an on-board power supply. The robot has selfdeploying gliding membranes and allowance is made in the design for the adjustment of pitch to improve landing control. After testing the performance of the robot, consideration is given to its power requirement for full autonomy.