Manufacturing Plant for 1985—Developments and Justification

Abstract

Changes in manufacturing techniques and systems are out-dating traditional ways of assessing the selection of new plant. The engineer needs to consider the overall effect of the introduction of new equipment when making an investment appraisal. The paper reviews trends in manufacture with special reference to computer controlled batch manufacturing equipment and systems with a high level of automation. Methods of assessing these are discussed in detail including the use of computer modelling in arriving at an investment decision which considers the effective operation of the manufacturing system as a whole.