Book excerpt: The International Conference on Mechanical Design and Production has over the years established itself as an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas in these established fields. The first of these conferences was held in 1979. The seventh, and most recent, conference in the series was held in Cairo during February 15-17, 2000. International engineers and scientists gathered to exchange experiences and highlight the state-of-the-art research in the fields of mechanical design and production. In addition a heavy emphasis was placed on the issue of technology transfer. Over 100 papers were accepted for presentation at the conference. Current Advances in Mechanical Design & Production VII does not, however, attempt to publish the complete work presented but instead offers a sample that represents the quality and breadth of both the work and the conference. Ten invited papers and 54 ordinary papers have been selected for inclusion in these proceedings. They cover a range of basic and applied topics that can be classified into six main categories: System Dynamics, Solid Mechanics, Material Science, Manufacturing Processes, Design and Tribology, and Industrial Engineering and its Applications.