Journal of Manufacturing Systems
Volume 13/No. 3
tant parameters is presented, such as properties of various
powder metal parts, dimensional accuracy attainable, and
part design rules.
"Liquid Materials: Casting Processes," Chapter 10,
follows the same pattern as the previous chapter. Seven
casting processes are described, discussed, and compared.
Several design rules for casting design are presented.
Information sheets for five processes conclude the chapter:
sand casting, shell mold casting, investment casting, per-
manent mold casting, and die casting. All five belong to the
same class--M, Me, Ri, TF, Co. The five symbols clearly
apply to the molding phase of the casting process. The
pouring is equivalent to motion and comes under the
heading "information."
"Plastics and Plastic Processing," Chapter 11, contains
a short description of the manufacturing properties of
plastics-- thermoplastic and thermosetting-- and of the main
plastics manufacturing methods for " p u r e " and reinforced
plastics. Information sheets are provided for blow molding,
extrusion molding, injection molding, and thermoform
molding.
"Nontraditional Manufacturing Processes" are covered
in Chapter 12. All manufacturing processes that appeared
after World War II are called "nontraditional," probably
for lack of a better term. The oldest is electrical discharge
machining (EDM) (sometimes still called spark erosion,
which is actually a more accurate term), patented half a
century ago. Anything older must be considered "tradi-
tional." EDM is the first process discussed in the chapter.
The description given is very good, and some details, such
as the servosystem, are rarely found in general texts. EDM
wire cutting and EDM grinding are also described. Consid-
erable space is given to electron beam and laser machining
and welding. The picture of a laser cut (trimmed) pressing
of a can body side is impressive. Other processes described
in considerable detail are ultrasonic machining and electro-
chemical machining. The last section in this chapter is
really modern--it contains a description of "layer manu-
facturing technology," a group of processes known as
"rapid prototyping." Several of these processes are
described: stereolithography, solid foil polymerization,
selective laser sintering, and ballistic particle manufactur-
ing. These will remain nontraditional well into the 21st
century.
Manufacturing processes don't exist in isolation. They
need machines and a proper environment or, to use a
modern term, "manufacturing systems," the topic and title
of Chapter 13. It begins with classification of production
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book review
layouts: functional layout, product layout, and cellular
layout. Features, advantages, and disadvantages of each are
discussed. Then follow sections on modern (that is, NC and
DNC) machine tools, robots, and flexible manufacturing
systems. Subsequent sections cover computer-integrated
manufacturing, efficient manufacturing, production plan-
ning and control, and the Japanese production philosophy.
Very skillful writing made it possible to provide a great deal
of important information on relatively few pages.
The need and pressure for cleaner manufacturing, and
the benefits derived from it, are the substance of the short
Chapter 14 (5 pages). Not much can be said in so few
pages, but the essentials are there.
In the final chapter, Chapter 15, we find just two pages on
industrial safety. The coverage is brief but very important.
More than 100 problems are given at the end of the book;
the 23 numerical ones have the answers given.
Manufacturing Engineering Processes is an outstanding
work. The combination of scope, depth, and organization
makes it highly valuable as a university textbook and as a
resource for practicing engineers.
Moshe M. Barash
Purdue University
Stochastic Models of Manufacturing Systems
J. Buzacott and J. George Shanthikumar, authors
Prentice Hall, © 1993
xxii + 553 pp.
$61.00
This book concerns discrete parts manufacturing systems
and stochastic models for those systems. The first chapter
presents a classification of manufacturing systems, treats
management issues in manufacturing, and sets out the
authors' philosophy on modeling. The second chapter
illustrates the development of a model of a simple system.
Thereafter there are eight chapters on models of various
manufacturing systems. The final chapter concerns topics
for further research.
The next eight chapters are on specific manufacturing
systems:
3. Produce-to-stock systems
4. Produce-to-order systems
5. Flowlines
continued
Journal of Manufacturing Systems
Volume 13/No. 3

book review

6. Transfer lines The book is vibrant with interesting ideas on modeling

7. Dynamic job shops and analysis. Here are some miscellaneous small illustra-
8. Flexible machining systems tions. Extreme value theory is used to study unpaced
9. Flexible assembly systems flowlines, in which performance is determined by the
10. Multiple-cell manufacturing systems longest (extreme) job. Reversibility properties of flowlines
consisting of single-machine stations are used to show
Each chapter begins with background material, which
optimality of the "slowest station in the middle" layout for
includes a description of the manufacturing system under
the three-station case. The method of phases is invoked here
consideration, a history of the development and use of the
and there. As a final example, the authors present a nice
system, a discussion of the main issues in designing and
argument to demonstrate the positive effect of increased
operating the system, and an explanation of the salient
job-routing diversity in a job shop when service times are
modeling issues. These discussions are thoughtful and
highly variable.
informative. The reader who is more familiar with the
I have taught a second-year graduate-level course from
models than the systems themselves will find a great deal to
this book in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue
reflect on. Following the background material, a thorough
University. The book requires a little maturity in probability
treatment of modeling is presented. The ideas from
modeling on the part of the student, and some knowledge of
probability are married closely to the features of the systems
manufacturing systems is also desirable. I have found the
under consideration. Systems are never conjured up as
style to be a little terse in places. There is quite a bit of
excuses for presenting mathematics, although tractable cases
dense mathematics, some of which are written more in the
often receive special attention. Each chapter closes with a
style of a research paper than of a didactic work. Each
section on the implications of the models, where the
chapter has a substantial set of homework problems, and
principal insights into design and operation are summarized.
this was very useful in teaching; however, one has to watch
The book develops a great deal of standard applied
out for the occasional deceptively difficult problem (for
probability, including, for example, various queues (Chap-
example, problem 3.10 asks us to show that the steady-state
ters 3 and 4) and queueing networks (Chapters 7-10). What
expected waiting time in an M/M/c queue is convex in c.)
makes it truly interesting is the nonstandard material. This
These shortcomings are minor. The richness of the material
includes: (a) the systematic use of approximations when
itself, both applications and theory, makes this a very
explicit solutions are not available, and the use of simula-
satisfying book to teach from. It is a book that will appeal
tion to validate these approximations; (b) the thorough
to students in both operations research and manufacturing.
treatment of flowlines and transfer lines, stressing recent
Researchers in stochastic models will find this book
highly refined decomposition algorithms; (c) the systematic
useful for its breadth of topics and for its detailed treatment
use of stochastic orderings to study the effect of variability,
of those topics. It is easy to identify interesting points of
and (d) the emphasis on drawing qualitative conclusions
departure for research in Chapters 5-10. The clear explana-
from the models and back-of-envelope calculations to get a
tions of practical issues will help young researchers focus
feel for the behavior of a complex system. The authors
their modeling efforts on problems that are relevant to
introduce the "generalized production authorization card
applications. Chapter 11, which suggests topics for further
(PAC) system," which they propose as a unified framework
research, is especially helpful in this regard. Researchers
for coordinating multiple-cell manufacturing systems. The
will also appreciate the discussions of the literature and the
essence of the idea is to divorce PA cards from physical
extensive bibliographies at the end of each chapter.
inventory so that a PA card may be released based on
information about demands, rather than only at instants
when demands are made. More familiar systems, such as
MRP, kanban, OPT, and CONWlP, are all shown to be Colm A. O'Cinneide
special cases of the generalized PAC system. Purdue University

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