3D Manufacturing Innovation
Hiroshi Toriya. Springer Verlag, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013. 2008. 160 pages. $119. ISBN 978-1-84800-037-7.
It's not every day that the CEO of a company writes a book, but in this instance, Hiroshi Toriya makes the case for the growing use of 3-D data to improve production. Toriya's company, Lattice Technology Inc., is used as the basis to discuss innovative new methods of enterprise-wide communication to achieve faster, leaner manufacturing operations. Balanced by detailed case studies at pioneering companies, including Sony and Toyota, the book, subtitled "Revolutionary change in Japanese manufacturing with digital data," takes the reader in depth and step-by-step to convey how 3-D data is used more widely in manufacturing to achieve greater efficiencies and less exhausted employees. It is a discipline of great interest to the author, since his company developed the very lightweight XVL format that has allowed manufacturers to improve production inside and outside their enterprises. The book demonstrates how information technologies have matured and become ubiquitous, and are no longer a source of competitive advantage. Toriya holds that the use of 3-D data—the way it's put to work throughout the manufacturing enterprise—is the next source of a manufacturer's competitive edge.
A Biographical Dictionary of People in Engineering: From Earliest Records Until 2000
Carl W. Hall. Purdue University Press, 509 Harrison St., West Lafayette, IN 47907-2025. 2008. 384 pages. A CD is included. $79.95. ISBN 978-1- 55753-459-0.
Advancements in the field of engineering that have led to major inventions and discoveries are built on the foundations of predecessors and their work. In many cases, small steps are taken by a variety of researchers leading ultimately to a momentous discovery. This book, by a former ASME vice president, lists their work and contributions of thousands of people from many countries, representing numerous fields of endeavor, over many centuries. The terms "engineer" and "engineering" are rather recent, but former builders, architects, instrument makers, inventors, discoverers, and shop workers were part of the process, according to the author. This work contains the names, dates, and a brief biography of people found in engineering and invention literature, culled from histories, biographies, literature, and handbooks. A sampling of names ranges from the less familiar, such as Beulah Louise Henry, known as Lady Edison, to such giants as Niels Bohr, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Peter Cooper Hewitt, Ben Moreell, and George Washington Carver, to name but a few.
Design of Industrial Information Systems
Thomas O. Boucher and Ali Yalcin. Academic Press, an Elsevier imprint, 30 Corporate Dr., Suite 400, Burlington. MA 01803. 2006. 432 pages. $79.95. ISBN 978-0-12-370492-8.
Industrial companies have been leaders in the adoption of information technology. This book addresses the application of IT within the context of industrial firms. It combines the teaching of the principles of information systems and database design with examples and case studies in industrial companies. The authors show how information systems can be integrated into a wider e-business and Web-enabled database business model. The book also offers applications in enterprise resource planning and manufacturing execution systems with an accompanying Web site containing usable sample databases.
Power Plant Construction Management: A Survival Guide
Peter G. Hessler. PennWell Corp., 1421 S. Sheridan Rd., Tulsa, OK 74112-6600. 2005. 350 pages. $99. ISBN 978-1-59370-029-4.
Power plants are being built again. Some are of the basic coal-fired variety. Others continue to be gas and waste heat fired, and then others are of the renewable type—wind, solar, geothermal, and wave energy. But the difference this time around is the shortage of experienced personnel to get these plants built. It's not only a shortage of craft labor, but also skilled supervision and management. Mechanical and civil engineers played a major role in building the first round of the world's power plants. This time, there are fewer of them to go around. This book by Peter Hessler, an ASME member, addresses this shortage by offering economic guidance and support to build this next round of plants. He focuses on performing the construction tasks in a cost-efficient manner for the benefit of the financial stakeholder. His topics follow the usual sequence of preplanning, understanding contractual commitments, exploring risk management, and managing quality, safety, and the actual finances of the work itself. It is written from the perspective of engineers who are responsible for managing the day-to-day construction activities, as well as those who are responsible for the overall success of the total power plant project.
Geometrical Dimensioning and Tolerancing for Design, Manufacturing and Inspection. Second Edition.
Georg Henzold. Butterworth-Heinemann, an Elsevier imprint, 30 Corporate Dr., Suite 400, Burlington. MA 01803. 2006. 396 pages. $64.95. ISBN 0-7506-6738-9.
This is a handbook for geometrical product specification using ISO and ASME standards. Geometrical tolerancing is used to specify and control the form, location, and orientation of the features of components and manufactured parts. The book is aimed at professional engineers, designers, CAD users, quality managers, and anyone involved in the creation of CAD plans or engineering designs and specifications. The author is a former deputy director of Siemens AG.
Environmentally Conscious Transportation
Edited by Myer Kutz. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River St., 4th Floor, Hoboken, NJ 07030. 2008. 352 pages. $120. ISBN 978-0-471-79369-4.
The fifth volume of the Wiley Series in Environmentally Conscious Engineering, this book provides a foundation for understanding and implementing methods for reducing the environmental impact of a wide variety of transportation modes. They range from private automobiles (with a separate chapter on biofuels) to heavy trucks and buses to rail and public transportation systems to aircraft. Each chapter has been written by one or more experts who, based on their hands-on field experience, present relevant practical and analytical techniques for enhancing the integrity and reliability of transportation vehicles and infrastructure, as well as for measuring and limiting the pollution caused by transportation activities. The book also explains how to satisfy key business objectives, such as maximizing profits, while meeting environmental objectives.
Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers
Karl Johan Åström and Richard M. Murray. Princeton University Press, 41 William St., Princeton, NJ 08540-5237. 2008. 424 pages. $45. ISBN 978-0-691-13576-2.
This book provides an introduction to the mathematics needed to model, analyze, and design feedback systems. Unlike most books on the subject, according to the publisher, Feedback Systems develops transfer functions through the exponential response of a system, and is accessible across a range of disciplines that use feedback in physical, biological, information, and economic systems. Åström and Murray use techniques from phys-ics, computer science, and operations research to introduce control-oriented modeling. They begin with state space tools for analysis and design. The authors then develop and explain tools in the frequency domain. Exercises are provided at the end of every chapter, and an accompanying electronic solutions manual is available.
Nonlinear Continuum Mechanics for Finite Element Analysis. Second Edition.
Javier Bonet and Richard D. Wood. Cambridge University Press. 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013. 326 pages. 2008. $99. ISBN 978-0-521-83870-2.
Designing engineering components that make optimal use of materials requires consideration of the nonlinear characteristics associated with both the manufacturing and working environments. The modeling of these characteristics can be done only through numerical formulation and simulation, and this in turn requires an understanding of both the theoretical background and associated computer solution techniques. By presenting both the nonlinear continuum analysis and the associated finite element techniques in one volume, authors Javier Bonet and Richard D. Wood provide a unified treatment of these key subjects. The majority of chapters include worked examples and exercises. |
