1.4 ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK

The following 26 chapters of this book are organized into nine parts. This introductory chapter has attempted to set the stage and whet the reader's appetite for the technical chapters that follow on automation, production systems, and computer integrated manufacturing.

Part I contains two chapters, the first of which covers some of the fundamental concepts and principles of manufacturing and automation. The second chapter in Part I discusses production economics, an essential subject for justifying an automation project.
Part ll is concemed with high-volume production of discrete products. The type of automation used here is sometimes called "Detroit automation" because of its extensive applications in the automobile industry. The four chapters in Part ll discuss the production lines, both automated and manually operated, that perform processing and assembly operations. The automated production lines are examples of fixed automation.
Pan III covers numerical control, an example of programmable automation. Numerical control is used for batch production of parts and products. The program is formed out of numbers, hence the name numerical control. An extension of numerical control technology is industrial robotics.

Part IV provides three chapters on industrial robotics: its technology, programming, and applications. '
Part V deals with material handling, one of the physical activities in the factory that “touch” the product. We concentrate, of course, on automated systems. The two chapters in Part V discuss automated material handling systems and automated storage systems.
Part VI is concemed with group technology and flexible manufacturing systems. A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is a representative application of flexible automation. Group technology is considered a necessary principle to achieving a successful FMS.
Part VII contains only one chapter-on quality control and automated inspection.Please do not interpret the one chapter as meaning that quality control (QC) is not important. The chapter is substantial, both in length and importance. We leam that automated inspection methods do not always have to “touch” the product.
Part VIII covers automatic control systems. We survey the traditional linear feedback control theory and then proceed to consider how computer systems are used to achieve control over manufacturing operations in a modem factory.
Finally,

Part IX presents an introduction to computer integrated manufacturing. The five chapters describe the elements of CIM: computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, manufacturing planning, manufacturing control, and the glue that holds these computer systems together-computer networks. We conclude the book with a description of what the future automated factory will be like, and the social impact that it will have.