Process Selection

The definitive practical guide to choosing the optimum manufacturing process, written for students and engineers. Process Selection provides engineers with the essential technological and economic data to guide the selection of manufacturing processes. This fully revised second edition covers a wide range of important manufacturing processes and will ensure design decisions are made to achieve optimal cost and quality objectives.

Expanded and updated to include contemporary manufacturing, fabrication and assembly technologies, the book puts process selection and costing into the context of modern product development and manufacturing, based on parameters such as materials requirements, design considerations, quality and economic factors. Key features of the book include: manufacturing process information maps (PRIMAs) provide detailed information on the characteristics and capabilities of 65 processes and their variants in a standard format; process capability charts detailing the processing tolerance ranges for key material types; strategies to facilitate process selection; detailed methods for estimating costs, both at the component and assemby level.

The approach enables an engineer to understand the consequences of design decisions on the technological and economic aspects of component manufacturing, fabrication and assembly. This comprehensive book provides both a definitive guide to the subject for students and an invaluable source of reference for practising engineers.

• Manufacturing process information maps (PRIMAs) provide detailed information on the characteristics and capabilities of 65 processes in a standard format
• Process capability charts detail the processing tolerance ranges for key material types
• Detailed methods for estimating costs, both at the component and assembly level

Professor Ken Swift is the Lucas Professor of Manufacturing Systems Engineering at University of Hull, UK. Following decades of research and collaboration with leading manufacturing groups worldwide, his current research interests include capability analysis and probabilistic design, flexible assembly and inspection systems. He has received numerous awards and prizes in the area of design and manufacturing, including the Donald Julius Groen Prize, awarded for a paper on manufacturing process selection in the IMechE Journal of Engineering Manufacture.

Dr Julian Booker is Reader in Design and Manufacture at University of Bristol, UK, and a recognized expert in product design and process engineering. Working closely with industry, his research interests include the development and industrial implementation of design methods for manufacture, assembly, quality and reliability improvement, and the structural integrity of frictional machine elements using simulation and experimental methods.