Manufacturing and Design

Book excerpt: Manufacturing and Design presents a fresh view on the world of industrial production: thinking in terms of both abstraction levels and trade-offs. The book invites its readers to distinguish between what is possible in principle for a certain process (as determined by physical law); what is possible in practice (the production method as determined by industrial state-of-the-art); and what is possible for a certain supplier (as determined by its production equipment). Specific processes considered here include metal forging, extrusion, and casting; plastic injection molding and thermoforming; additive manufacturing; joining; recycling; and more. By tackling the field of manufacturing processes from this new angle, this book makes the most out of a reader's limited time. It gives the knowledge needed to not only create well-producible designs, but also to understand supplier needs in order to find the optimal compromise. Apart from improving design for production, this publication raises the standards of thinking about producibility. - Emphasizes the strong link between product design and choice of manufacturing process - Introduces the concept of a "production triangle" to highlight tradeoffs between function, cost, and quality for different manufacturing methods - Balanced sets of questions are included to stimulate the reader's thoughts - Each chapter ends information on the production methods commonly associated with the principle discussed, as well as pointers for further reading - Hints to chapter exercises and an appendix on long exercises with worked solutions available on the book's companion site: http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780080999227/