Introduction to Basic Manufacturing Processes and ... - always yours

12 Introduction to Basic Manufacturing Processes and Workshop Technology
of the company estimates the likely demand and probable profitability and decides on the best
mode of designing and manufacturing the desired product.
Traditionally, after the design of the product, the part prints are released for production.
The production engineering section first considers the feasibility of production of the product.
Having ascertained its feasibility, process planning is done so that the product can be
manufactured at the lowest possible cost. Any redesign that is needed for improving the
producibility of the product without compromising on its functionality would have to be done
at this stage. Having decided on the process plan for manufacture, the necessary actions are
undertaken for its implementation. These are making of the tooling required, acquiring of
new equipment or tools, procurement of the raw materials, releasing of the detailed operational
instructions to the shop floor, etc. The conventional methods of manufacturing are generally
inefficient and dependent on operator skills. These methods consume more time, have high
costs, and give poor accuracy.
Product design is an activity which needs to be well organized and take into account all
influences that are likely to be responsible for the success of the product under development.
A product here means a single component which is functional in itself like a wrench or an
assembly of a large number of components all of which will contribute to the functioning of
the part such as an automobile engine. The complexity of the design process certainly increases
with the number and diversity of components present in the final part. Since there are such
a large number of influencing factors, it is impossible to specify a design procedure for each
component. Here we are interested in developing some common guidelines and steps that are
needed to proceed for a successful product design and manufacture.
From the above discussion it can inferred that products can be manufactured by more
than one processes. Therefore several alternatives for manufacturing products are available.
The selection of a suitable process is depended upon the factors including volume of production,
properties of the components, technical viability of process, economy involved and desired
quality. Based upon the volume of product the manufacturing activity can be identified in
terms of job shop production, batch production and mass production
1.15 COMPUTERS IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
Factors governing increased productivity, more accuracy, greater flexibility of shapes, and
reduced manufacturing costs are forcing the manufacturing concerns to use computers in
design, manufacturing and other allied functions of industrial activities. With an increase in
the need for quality manufacturing along with the factors such as short lead time and short
product lives and increasing consumer awareness as regards the quality of the product, it is
becoming increasingly important for the manufacturers to initiate steps to achieve all these.
The developments in microelectronics in the recent past have made higher computational
ability available at a low cost. Therefore, it becomes imperative that manufacturing takes
advantage of the availability of low cost and also using yet more powerful computers. Computers
have been in use in manufacturing industries since 1960. Initially they were in use only in
supportive functions such as inventory control purchase accounting, etc. In to day’s time,
computer applications have progressed considerably in all areas of design and manufacturing
involving CAD and CAM. This however needs to be emphasized that all the benefits of CAD
and CAM can be achieved only if these two important functions are effectively interfaced. This
interfacing is known as CAD/CAM. It involves the flow of information in both the directions.
With the result the parts and assemblies are designed keeping in view the limitations and