It is essential for the traditionally industrialised countries to innovate in manu- facturing to survive in the increasingly competitive world marketplace. This challenge coupled with the increasing application of computers has led to significant changes in the techniques applied in manufacturing. This book seeks to introduce those technologies that are being applied in discrete parts manufacturing. In the technIcal press there have been many phrases and acronyms coined to describe these technologies including numerical control (NC), machining centres, computer aided manufacture (CAM), computer integrated manufacture (CIM), simulation, robotics, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), automatic assembly, factory automation, Kanban, just in time (JIT), manufacturing automation protocol (MAP), advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), etc. The book is intended to introduce senior undergraduates, postgraduate students and practising engineers to the principles of these individual technologies and their integration into complete, automated, programmable manufacturing facilities and systems. It is hoped that this will allow the reader to have a critical perspective of the market- place and potential solutions to his own current or future problems. It is also intended to indicate how the complete manufacturing facility can be viewed as a system. The book does not address the related areas of Computer Aided Design (CAD), scheduling, production control and current speculative research at any significant level. It is impossible to do justice, in this short book, to such large subject areas which, without doubt, demand books in their own right. A book such as this is still necessarily wide-ranging and occasionally superficial.
