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News Release from: American Technical Publishers
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 07 May 2002
Getting factory automation right (the
first time)
A handy new book aims to help engineers avoid some of the common pitfalls in specifying special factory automation for their plant.
Most production or manufacturing engineers are called on sometime in their careers to acquire special factory automation for their plant Until now, those engineers have been pretty much on their own to learn what they could about the acquisition process and then make up the rest as they go along
Given that course of action, almost everybody makes the same types of mistakes throughout their projects.
"Getting factory automation right (the first time)" is a comprehensive new book that helps readers avoid these mistakes by taking them through the many steps of evaluating whether automation is needed, ways to plan the project, assemble the team, and oversee the purchase, testing, and maintenance of new equipment.
This book draws from the author's own experience to present a logical step-by-step approach to automation acquisition.
Author Edwin H Zimmerman leads readers down a path of knowledge gained through years of experience as a senior project engineer, principal manufacturing engineer, engineering manager, chief applications engineer, and director of technical operations.
Zimmerman details the processes and methods necessary to justify the purchase of new factory automation, common methods for acquisition, finding builders, red flag issues, creating the project team, working with builders, and explaining tooling grades and levels.
The information in this book will help experienced as well as entry-level engineers acquire special factory automation equipment without repeating the mistakes of their predecessors.
Mistakes are costly, and the further into the project that a design or logic flaw is revealed, the higher the cost in terms of money and time.
While mistakes cannot be eradicated completely, this book can help practitioners identify problems as they are encountered and minimise their impact on schedules and budgets.
Section I of the book lays out the groundwork for the acquisition project-assessing the need for automation and choice of approaches to acquire it, as well as pulling together the buyer's project team and organising the project.
Section II addresses writing the equipment specification, while Section III continues the project execution by selecting the suppliers, placing purchase orders, and keeping on top of the projects technical execution and schedule.
Finally, Section IV explains equipment validation and describes project closure.
It also details some major things that can go wrong during a factory automation acquisition project.
Throughout the book the reader will find checklists and suggestions to help ensure that nothing is missed along the way, as well as some red flags to avoid.
A valuable feature of the book is the bonus CD-ROM that contains interactive spreadsheets and the text of equipment specifications that will help readers get the most from the information presented in the book.
The CD files can be opened and saved for use as a template.
Readers can then do their own project justifications by the conventional payback and return-on-investment methods, configure the statistical quality calculations for process validation, and print out the results.
"Getting factory automation right (the first time)" will help ensure that engineers lead a successful project, in terms of budgetary issues, quality control, strategic planning, and operability.
This book is a practical guide for any sized plant.
It is available through American Technical Publishers, and sells for GBP 67.00.
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