Manufacturing Books

A fine book on cigars. I completely enjoyed this book and refer to it often.

I just picked this book up recently (2007) and though the book is getting on in age, it really holds up today. The first half of the book discussed history of tobacco, cigars, and smoke shops. The authors can really tell a good story and their historylessons were highly entertaining.

This is a useful and well-written cigar guide. It is getting a bit dated, but it is still very good for all cigar lovers.

The Good Cigar is to your brain what your tobacconist's walk-in humidor is to your nose. It's a cornucopia of history, anecdotes, and general cigar lore that makes you want to relax and stay a while.

Jeffers and Gordon start their history with the original tobacco lovers, the indigenous people of the Americas. Then they discuss the introduction and development of tobacco in Europe and the New World. Jeffers and Gordon acquaint us with many of the people who have influenced our image of cigars (Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, Ernest Hemingway, etc.) and give quotation buffs a nice supply of material. From the "Wooden Indian" to cigar boxes and bands, they explore the history and artistry of cigar paraphernalia.

The authors include a cigar index complete with their personal ratings of each cigar. The book shows its age here, as some of the cigars are no longer sold. This doesn't necessarily detract from the book. You just might run into somebody who's had a box aging for several years and is willing to trade a few sticks. In a situation like this, an older index of cigars would be helpful.

Jeffers and Gordon also cover humidors, cutters, and lighters. They even include a resource guide. These sections might lead the cigar neophyte to believe that cigar smoking is a costly pursuit, but this doesn't have to be the case. Less expensive and perfectly functional accessories are readily available; but as Winston Churchill warned, "Shoddiness can be found easily, in quantity" (I got that from this book). Choose carefully. There are several Internet message boards devoted to cigars that would be more helpful than this book in finding accessories that fit your taste and budget.

This is an excellent text that shows both engineers and managers how to apply principles to reducing environmental compliance costs. The works of Dr. Cheremisinoff are well known in the environmental management and pollution prevention fields. This book is a wonderful source of ideas and techniques for senior environmental managers.

This is an excellent book to generate cost saving ideas from. It combines simple engineering and management principles with a focus on proving to the reader how good environmental performance translates into good economic performance. The authors have done a great job in showing the basic prinicples and benefits of pollution prevention within the context of environmental management systems. The many industry-specific examples on P2 and waste minimization are simply excellent. I highly recommend this book for environmental managers.

Very informative book with new concepts on how to apply life cycle costs to pollution prevention projects. This book brings together two related subjects very clearly. It has helped our refineries see more clearly how an EMS can be applied within the context of pollution prevention. It clearly shows by many examples reasons for displacing end of pipe treatment trechnologies.

Nicholas Cheremisinoff is a consulting engineer with more than twenty years experience in design, research, development, manufacturing, and teaching. Avrom Bendavid-Val is Vice President for Environment and Development at Chermonics International Inc. In Green Profits: The Manager's Handbook for ISO 14001 And Pollution Prevention, Cheremisinoff and Bendavid-Val effectively collaborate to cover the two tightly connected topics of environmental management systems (EMS) and pollution prevention (P2). Together they show how to implement an EMS (especially ISO 14001) so that it leads to profitable pollution prevention innovations, and how to identify and implement pollution prevention measures within the context of a sound and strategic business framework. Green Profits provides the information and tools enterprising managers can apply to achieve the benefits of both EMS and P2 -- and do so in ways that fit within the corporation's existing management systems. Nicholas Cheremisinoff and Avrom Bendavid-Val Green Profits is a highly recommended addition to academic, professional, and corporate environmental engineering reference collections.

Good up to date information and give a good overview, very useful for control and System professionals and students in the process control field.

If you're working anywhere in the field of automation, you need this reference: it's the updated second edition of the popular Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge, and it packs in writings from nearly thirty leading experts in the field on such diverse subjects as control system documentation, motion control pros and cons, system and network security issues, and more. Students seeking to pass the CAP exam as well as field engineers will find it an essential reference filled with discussions linked to real-life needs and situations.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

The term "automation" includes all topics that have traditionally been identified as instrumentation, process control, and system integration, for example. Automation professionals are those individuals who are responsible for the direction, design, and deployment of systems and equipment for manufacturing and control systems. This book emerged from the work to develop ISA's Certified Automation Professional (CAP) program. However, it should be beneficial to more than those that wish to pass the CAP exam. While this book attempts to cover all of the topics in the scope of the CAP exam, many CAP exam questions will not be covered in this book since CAP questions can be drawn from any book or referred paper in automation. Still a good knowledge of the material in this book should be very helpful in preparing for the CAP exam. Since there are only approximately 13 pages per subject, you may need to go to one of the listed references in a particular section to get a more complete understanding of that topic. Also, note that this book reads more like a reference book than a textbook with lots of densely packed information. The table of contents is listed below:

Part 1 - BASIC CONTINUOUS CONTROL
1. Process Instrumentation
2. Analytical Instrumentation
3. Continuous Control
4. Control Valves
5. Analog Communications
6. Control System Documentation
7. Control Equipment

Part 2 - BASIC DISCRETE, SEQUENCING, AND MANUFACTURING CONTROL
8. Discrete Input and Output Devices and General Manufacturing Measurements
9. Discrete and Sequencing Control
10. Motor and Drive Control
11. Motion Control

Part 3 - ADVANCED CONTROL TOPICS
12. Process Modeling
13. Advanced Process Control
14. Control of Batch Processes
15. Environmental
16. Building Automation

Part 4 - RELIABILITY, SAFETY, AND ELECTRICAL
17. Alarm Management
18. Reliability
19. Process Safety and Safety Instrumented Systems
20. Electrical Installations
21. Safe Use and Application of Electrical Apparatus

Part 5 - INTEGRATION AND SOFTWARE
22. Digital Communications
23. Industrial Networks
24. Manufacturing Execution Systems and Business Integration
25. System and Network Security
26. Operator Interface
27. Data Management
28. Software

PART 6 - DEPLOYMENT AND MAINTENANCE
29. Operator Training
30. Checkout, System Testing, and Startup
31. Troubleshooting
32. Maintenance, Long Term Support, and System Management

PART 7 - WORK STRUCTURE
33. Automation Benefits and Project Justifications
34. Project Management and Execution
35. Interpersonal Skills

In the few months since the release of the first edition of this book it has become a standard overview of the field. 'Overview' because this is a brief introduction to virtually all of the subjects which when lumped together can be called automation.

The subjects covered include instrumentation, process control, motors, process modeling, reliability, safety, and of course a great deal about computer controls. In the computer area (about 40% of the book), the subjects include networks, security, operator interfaces, data management, software, operator training, troubleshooting and more.

This book is intended for use by automation professionals, academicians either for their own knowledge or for teaching, and is probably the best single source to use in preparing for the ISA Certified Automation Professional (CAP) exam.

Because of the large number of subjects covered and the depth given to each subject (which is not to say that if you want to go further you wouldn't find whole books on each of these subjects) the individual chapters are written by an expert in that particular field.

In the short time that this book has been available, it has become the standard in the field. I know of no other book that goes into as many different subject areas in automation with as much depth as this one.

If you would like to know who really started the Lean Journey look no further than Henry Ford

This is the book that made me appreciate Mr Ford's accomplishments and how he changed the world of business, particularly manufacturing. He was a leader and true visionary in many aspects of business, which are chronicled herein, and many of the roots of Lean are documented in this text. Aside from kanban and `jelly beans', he didn't miss much of the fundamentals of what we see as Lean.

The impacts of Ford's principles on business, the economy, social ramifications, and more are profound. The ideas, thought processes, and applications are expressed well and we can learn from these today. Too bad much of the rest of American business lost sight of Ford's techniques as they became enamored with scientific formulae like EOQ (economic order quantities) without questioning the assumptions.

There are different "uses" for this book - some I'd recommend, and others not.
I WOULD NOT recommend this book for it's insights on -
Economics: Ford explains a classic industrial notion that a company paying employees more will increase its sales because employees will buy more company product. Not only is this a false assumption of employee behavior, it also only approaches plausibility for very large consumer product companies.
Finance: Ford describes how financial instruments are short-term narcotics and long-term ills. His opinion seems to ignore the buffering benefits of finance, as well as the gains created for society by letting financial tools open possibilities.

HOWEVER, YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK BECAUSE -

It is current: Ford describes a organizational skill poorly understood and mostly ignored: coordination. In the book, many processes are described that Ford says are all well known to other companies, but how the Ford Corporation made the processes interact was their power. Today's out-sourcing is more palatable knowing this skill.
It is insightful: An excellent alternative to the "profit-motive" of companies is presented: service-motive. Not because profits are bad does Ford present the service-motive, but because profits are give unreliable feedback. Ford sees the maintenance of service to the public as a more durable goal.
It is historical: Not only does it provide the roots to Taiichi Ohno's - Toyota's - operations strategy, but it also gives clues to why Ford lost dominance. The Toyota roots pop up in Ford's writing on waste, on cleanliness (5s), on continuous flow, and on timing. The clues pop up with his ignorance of customer desires vs. needs, his overconfidence in managing highly diverse businesses, and his inattention to downstream processes.

If you know the limitations of Today and Tomorrow, you then can reap great benefits by reading it as if it was written last week. Many of its ideas have yet to fully play out in the world of industry.

This is an outstanding book for those folks in manufacturing who are starting out on their "Lean" journey. The book teaches the uninitiated an original thinker's way of recognizing "waste" in manufacturing, and often, how to deal with that waste. Taiichi Ohno took a "shipload" of this book with him to Japan in the '50s and made sure that every Toyota engineer read the book. The rest is history as to how Toyota packaged this information for the rest of the world, including the United States, in its now famous "7 wastes of manufacturing." You will enjoy the book and learn what an outstanding visionary Henry Ford really was.

This book will provide the reader with a basic working knowledge of hydraulic and pneumatic systems. It is not structured like a text book in that it does not give problems to work on at the end of each chapter. It makes use of numerous illustrations to accompany the explanations and provides the reader with a working knowledge on the function each component in a hydraulic or pneumatic system satisfies.

It teaches the most necessesary practical sections needed to understand the issue.

Working as a practicing engineer for a major US airline, I found this book a very useful introduction to hydraulics & pneumatics. Using this book, I was able to take systems on our airplanes (such as rudder control units and thrust reverser controllers) and write schematics of them using the hydraulic & pneumatic notation. I found the chapter on process control pneumatics to be quite useful in troubleshooting & understanding these systems. While I use this information on aircraft systems, the book is directed to hydraulic & pneumatics in ALL industries and no reference is made to hardware as installed in aircraft applications. Check valves, relief valves, accumulators, pilot valves and sequencing valves are well explained to the layman. The author does a great job explaining the dynamics of cylinders and valves with lots of timing diagrams and schematics. Pick this book up if you want to come up to speed quickly on hydraulics and pneumatics.

This is a good book if u want a brief description on how hydraulic or pneumatic works. I have read the book and now have a better knowledge of hydraulics. The book is small and sometimes u find yourself flipping back and forth to see the illustrations. Might have been better to fit the drawing on the same page as the description. But I thats just my opinion.

I heard about this book through a friend of mine and bought it. The Slashdot review appeared as I was half-way through the book and it didn't connect. May be it's me, but what I was reading in this book was quite interesting. First of all, this book takes quite an interesting approach to describe the problems in high tech community. It is very readable. The author covers *a lot* of stuff in 230 pages. I do agree with Slashdot reviewer that the author has only described his personal experiences. I've been in the field of IT for over 20 years and I think this is the first time a book talks so much about the people and their mindsets, without trying to offer a new buzzword. Refreshing. Of late I've been dealing with a lot of Indian offshore executives and I highly recommend that high tech companies (may be all companies) in India read this book so that they know how a mature professional ought to think. Part Three of the book is a classic introduction to the real product marketing, just the way it ought to be done in high tech companies. The context framework the author uses repeatedly is quite intriguing, although it just might come across as a little too-rigorous for a professional book like this.

Among many other things, I think this is a perfect book to bridge the marketing gap for engineers (and the engineering aspects for product managers). Product specifications invariably evolve as the product is being whetted - and new features may require re-engineering which could delay the product. This stuff happens every day in engineering organizations. Companies have to trade-off between product features and market timing and an inherent tension develops between development and marketing groups.

As with any problem the solution lies in acquiring knowledge - in this case knowledge of the workings of the various groups responsible for the finished product. The book does an excellent job of guiding the user through this process. Like all good solutions maybe the answer is conceptually simple!

I heard about this book through a friend of mine and bought it. The Slashdot review appeared as I was half-way through the book and it didn't connect. May be it's me, but what I was reading in this book was quite interesting. First of all, this book takes quite an interesting approach to describe the problems in high tech community. It is very readable. The author covers *a lot* of stuff in 230 pages. I do agree with Slashdot reviewer that the author has only described his personal experiences. I've been in the field of IT for over 20 years and I think this is the first time a book talks so much about the people and their mindsets, without trying to offer a new buzzword. Refreshing. Of late I've been dealing with a lot of Indian offshore executives and I highly recommend that high tech companies (may be all companies) in India read this book so that they know how a mature professional ought to think. Part Three of the book is a classic introduction to the real product marketing, just the way it ought to be done in high tech companies. The context framework the author uses repeatedly is quite intriguing, although it just might come across as a little too-rigorous for a professional book like this.

In the Preface, Karamchedu offers a core premise that senior-level executives in high-technology companies must have a specific mindset which enables them to remain connected, not only with their employer organizations and colleagues but also with their family members and friends. "This book is an attempt to record the [in italics] makings [end italics] of such a mindset. More important, we attempt to establish [in italics] why [end italics] the thinking must be in such a way." Karamchedu also examines the reasons for the failure for so many new product designs which are launched in the high technology sector. "Either the product is not what the customer wanted, or the product did not arrive in time, or [it] did not have a compelling advantage over that of its competitor's. Karamchedu identifies three reasons, any one of which could ensure failure. I was also interested in what Karamchedu had to say about an especially formidable challenge: To coordinate, indeed integrate harmonious collaboration between engineering groups and marketing teams.

Karamchedu carefully organizes 20 chapters within four Parts: The Thinking (e.g. "The Problem"), The Forward Movement Latent in Execution (e.g. "The Context of Execution"), High Tech Contexts: A Semiconductor Company View (e.g. "The Semiconductor Value Chain"), and The Craft and the Mindset (e.g. "Manage Expectations"). If I understand Karamchedu correctly (and I may not), he asserts that more often than not, failure in the high-tech marketplace is not the result of faulty technology and/or a defective strategy; rather, because of a lack of cooperation and collaboration between/among engineers and marketers. This lack of interaction almost always results in ineffective execution. Market windows come and go unrecognized until it is too late. Karamchedu responds to one of the most important questions posed in this book: How is it that, in spite of making remarkable strides in high technology product design, development and deployment of these products in markets, we are still struggling to create a harmony between marketing and engineering professionals?"

For me, Chapter 10 ("The Context of Execution") is one of the most interesting and most valuable because it is in this chapter that Karamchedu focuses on a framework of contexts: the technological, the customer, and the economic. All three must be engaged in driving whatever individual employees create, build, and deploy in the market. Thus viewed, "a high technology company is simply a confluence of the three contexts." Karamchedu views all this as a powerful new paradigm to connect the three contexts with the circle of execution. How? Please see page 92.

Lest these brief remarks incorrectly suggest that this is an especially theoretical, hypothetical book, I hasten to observe that Karamchedu seems well aware of that peril and for that reason includes dozens of concrete examples which effectively illustrate his key points. If I have a concern, it is that the material may seem too technical to marketing executives and not technical enough to engineers. I agree with Karamchedu that "the strength of any high technology product is differentiation and a focused approach to selected markets." Hence the importance of having a vision which provides a clear, unquestionable, solid identity as to [in italics] what we are as a company." Karamchedu views his approach in this book as an "experiment" and it probably is. Be that as it may, executives in high technology companies are indeed provided with "something useful to think about" as they continue to explore and refine the craft of thinking on which the success of their organizations so heavily depends.

Well-done, Raj Karamchedu!

From the infamous ant farm to Wooly Willy, this book covers all the hokey and cool toys you probably had if you grew up in the 60s, 70s or even later. The author does a nice job of providing an interesting synopsis of each toy, including its invention, popularity, and success (or lack thereof). There are dozens of obscure facts and stories behind the creation and evolution of these toys, and this book culls them all for us, making it a fun and enjoyable read.

The great thing about this book is that the toys featured include those that most of us had as kids (or at least had a friend who had them): Magic 8 Ball, Slinky (my personal favorite), Mr. Potato Head, Tinkertoys....and the list goes on. This book is great for the kid who never grew up.

This book brings back wonderful memories. As a child it was wonderful playing and experiencing these wonderful toys. As an adult it is wonderful to find out why and how these classic toys came to be. This book is sure to bring a smile to all who read it.

One way in which the thinking processes of successful inventors and entrepreneurs differs from the average person is that they often see a potential masker that others fail to see. Many demonstrations of this ability may be found when reading this delightful little book, Kid Stuff. David Hoffman has assembled the histories of the most familiar toys of our childhood. From the Ant Farm to the Whiffle Ball, he details how they were conceived, perfected, and promoted.

Consider the Slinky. If Richard James, in 1945, had not been intrigued by how a spring he accidentally dropped "walked" across the floor, the story could have ended right there. But be did see a potential. He perfected it, named it, and packaged it. It then died on the vine at the local retail outlet. Again, the story could have ended right there. However, he realized this was a new item and that it had to be demonstrated. When he demonstrated it at Gimbels, he sold 400 in minutes. In the 50 years since, 250 million have been sold!

Three basics in the Slinky story form a common thread that runs through many of these classic toy histories. First, someone sees a potential market; secondly, a dynamite trade name is created; thirdly, clever marketing is utilized.

Often the opportunity is in plain sight and, in fact, may have been for some time. Hoffman points out that it is said that the Yo-Yo is actually the second-oldest known toy (after dolls). Yet it remained for Donald Duncan, in 1927, to see the possibilities. Further confirmation that some people do look at the world differently may be had by noting that Duncan also invented the parking meter and introduced the Good Humor "ice cream on a stick."

An example of a mental process utilizing analogical thinking may be seen in the history of the Erector Set. Back in 1911, A. C. Gilbert observed girders being assembled for an electric system along the railroad line he frequently traveled. Realizing kids love to assemble things (wood blocks, etc.), he put together a toy kit consisting of girders, gears, pulleys, etc.

This power of observing the obvious and seeing the not so obvious is again shown in the history of Mr. Potato Head. George Lerner noticed how children love to play with their food. Who has not? He utilized the observation to create Mr. Potato Head. Incidentally, "Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to ever be advertised on television." The story recites how the toy has been adapted to the times. His pipe was eliminated and the last pipe given to the Surgeon General at the Great American Smokeout. Responding to safety regulation they increased the size of its pasts and made them less sharp. As Hoffman notes, the current Mr. Potato Head may surprise nostalgic parents, but he is still loved by the kids.

Another example of how a toy was adapted to the times is Antonio Pasin's original wagon, "Liberty Coaster," of 1923. It was made of wood and it was followed by the classic little red wagon, "Radio Flyer," made of steel. It was called "Flyer" to emphasize motion and "Radio" to honor the Italian inventor of radio.

If for no other reason, read this book to satisfy your curiosity as to how the classic toys came to be. How Paul Guillow created the balsa wood airplane industry. How a toy store owner and a marketing consultant created Silly Putty---it floundered until a mention in the New Yorker magazine resulted in orders for a quarter-million and it's sales has since reached the 200-million mark!

This book is jammed packed with toy trivia. Largest-selling football in the world? Nerf football. Barbie Doll's last name? Roberts.

Viktor Budnik's photographs for this book are terrific. They make this little book look good enough for your coffee table. But best of all, even your kids will enjoy this book and, perhaps, pick up on the idea that behind each toy there was a real person who took an idea from the dream world and brought it into the real world.

These guys have put together a tremendous walk down memory lane. If you want to know the secrets behind your favorite childhood toys (as well as be reminded about how much fun they were)...buy this book. Set it out on a coffee table at your next party, and you are guaranteed an evening of fun reminiscing.

This book is more than fun reading...it is childhood joy recaptured.

The bandwith of this book is impressive. The photos are better than the narrative, but this book contains some interesting surprises.

This books shows you the lighters and gives a history of the lighter company. Many lighters. It doesn't give values of lighters, but its practically an encyclopedia on lighters..

A must for every collector.

Ad's book includes phantastic photography and an interesting concept regarding matching the things. The focus is not the jewel stuff one can always find in such books. It is the reflection of pure fascination of lighters, their history, function and the thrill of fire making history. Most important is the fact that the book adresses to the NON-collector as well as to the collector but more to the former. People that do not know anything about the subject will be fascinated by it. Although I am a collector I always read it again and again.

This PR guide for manufacturers was published more than a year ago, so some of the editors and publications listed have changed. The great thing is that the editor will provide updated information if you email him, and we have actually secured his PR firm for our manufacturing firm. It's the best marketing effort in our company history.

Since 1987 I have watched TR Cutler take the lead in marketing and PR in the manufacturing sector. Cutler's Guide is the starting point for every manufacturing marketing and PR campaign. It is a resource that everyone in the manufacturing industry will find beneficial.

TR Cutler understands manufacturing PR better than anyone and this guide is the ultimate primer for any manufacturing firm getting started ona new PR campaign or strategic marketing plan.

No marketing resource in the manufacturing sector gives more insight than TR Cutler. Every manufacturing organization owner, senior executive and marketing manager should own this book.

I do research in machining at the University of New Hampshire. This book is the essential resource that all of my graduate students refer to on a regular basis. I recommend it for anyone doing research in the machining field. I would also recommend Tlusty's book, "Manufacturing Processes and Equipment" as a second essential resource.

Due to my job I am forced to read a lot of technical literature. I never got as much technical up-to-date information explained in such an intelligible way. Compared to other books dealing with manufacturing processes (which are mostly written by scientists in a very, very scientific way), in this book you've got the impression that the author virtually tells you the modern fundamentals of manufacturing. This makes this book easily understandable. Nowadays, High Speed Machining is well established in manufacturing. The future will bring High Performance Machining which means that the metal removal rates are significantly higher at high cutting speeds. As far as High Performance Cutting is concerned, this book covers also the theories of the dynamic behaviour of the cutting process. Therefore, chatter is of great importance. The author explains the two present "Chatter Theories" in detail and enables the reader to perform his own calculations on process stability. I strongly recommend this book to all engineers and students of mechanical engineering who want to know the latest scientific results explained in a comprehensible way. This book is a must in the bookcase.

I had the great fortune of taking a course with Dr. Altintas at the University of British Columbia and I have to say that he is very thorough in his teaching methodology.

This was the textbook for the course and we covered most of it... I have to say that the book is very thorough and really teaches you in a practical way. The contents are very up-to-date and full with his own research results (which are cutting-edge). Also, the book's price has been kept very reasonable so that it is "student friendly".

If you are a machinest or a production engineer who keeps asking the question "WHY" then this is the book for you. This book gives you a good engineering back ground into the understanding of machining and the back ground to start building your own CNC machining center. A must have for any production engineer.