This book presents basic information on CAD/CAM and describes how to select, implement, and run a CAD/CAM system in the mechanical engineering environment. It also describes the overall state of CAD/CAM today in different industrial sectors and for different manufacturing technologies.

Little more than a decade ago computer-aided design and manufacture (CAD/CAM) was a very esoteric field indeed, not one that was of much practical concern to a manager or industrialist unless his business was on the scale of, say, a major automobile manufacturer or in a field of high technology such as aerospace. Like so much else, this situation was revo lutionized by the invention of the silicon chip, the arrival of the micro processor and the dramatic fall in the cost of computer hardware. Today, CAD/CAM has spread down the market, and down the price scale, to the point at which it is both a feasible and an affordable technology for a wide range of small-and medium-sized companies in areas as various as architec ture and general engineering, plastic moulding and consumer electronics. But the explosion - there is no other word for it - in the variety and capabilities of CAD/CAM systems, and their spectacular climb to the top of the hi-tech hit parade, has placed the potential purchaser and user of the new technology in a difficult position. On the one hand he is assured, not least by the manufacturers of CAD/CAM equipment, that a failure to invest in it will leave his company stranded in the industrial Stone Age.

To understand what we know and be aware of what is to be known is a necessary approach to treating CAD/CAM issues. The challenge for all of us interested in CAD/CAM and engineering data handling is to under stand what we know and what we need to know about today's and tomorrow's technology, to track the explosive development of our field and its broadening range of applications, to sort through the details which compete for our attention, and to perceive underlying trends. A key development in the past year was the rapid and widespread acceptance by all user segments of personal computer-based CAD/CAM workstations, coupled with widespread use of software packages, both those developed for PC-based workstations and others converted from main frame and mini systems for use on PC-based or 32-bit workstations. If this trend continues for a few more years, as much as 900/0 of all design work may be accomplished on advanced versions of PC-based workstations. Many software systems vendors unknown until recently to the PC-based CAD/CAM community have now come to dominate the market-companies such as Autodesk, Chessell-Robocom, Future Net, T&W Systems, P-CAD, Cascade, 4-D Graphics, CADAM, Wang & Hornbuckle, and more than 20 other companies who sell PC-based CAD/CAM software.

To understand what we know and be aware of what is to be known has become the central focus in the treatment of CAD/CAM issues. It has been some time since we began treating issues arriving from engineering data handling in a low key fashion because of its housekeeping chores and data maintenance aspects representing nonglamorous issues related to automation. Since the advent of CAD/CAM,large numbers of data bases have been generated through standalone CAD systems. And the rate of this automated means of generating data is rapidly increasing; this is possibly the key factor in changing our way of looking at engineering data related problems. As one deeply involved with engineering data handling and CAD/CAM applications, I know that to succeed, we must do our homework: tracking the trends, keeping abreast of new technologies, new applications, new companies and products that are exploding on the scene every day. In today's fast-paced information handling era, just keeping up is a full-time job. That is why ATI has initiated these publications, in order to bring to the users some of the information regarding their experiences in the important fields of CAD/CAM and engineering data handling. This volume contains some of the paper, including revisions, which were presented at the Fifth Automation Technology Conference held in Monterey, California. A series of publications has been initiated through cooperation between ATI and the Kluwer Academic Publishers. The first volume was Advances in Engineering Data Handling-Case Studies.

This new edition has been thoroughly updated and expanded to reflect the state-of-the-practice of CAD/CAM/CAE systems.;Maintaining and enhancing the style of presentation of the first edition, CAD/CAM/CAE Systems (second edition) aims to provide a broad, solid understanding of each critical issue involved with the implementation and evaluation of systems; gives industry tested cost justification models to assess the feasibility of purchasing or leasing a system; supplies step-by-step explanations of every aspect of implementation, from initial facility planning to long-term maintenance; shows how to prepare personnel for a new system, including job skills, training stages, organization, and adminstration; illustrates a complete system audit, including five important approaches to determining overall success, six areas that can be judged separately, the dangers of benchmarking, and a two-year follow-up study; and more.;Furnishing the most up-to-date methods, CAD/CAM/CAE Systems, Second edition offers new features such as: a study of the proliferation of personal computers and their role in organizations; a discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of value added remarketers as an alternative to purchasing from conventional CAD/CAM companies; an examination of the cost-effectiveness of third party service organizations; and more. CAD/CAM/CAE Systems is intended as a guide for software, hardware, mechanical, manufacturing, industrial, and design engineers; draftspersons; managers; purchasing agents, acquisition personnel, and company officers responsible for deciding on CAD/CAM/CAE system implementation or augmentation; and graduate-level and continuing-education students in these disciplines.

This book presents general computer definitions and abbreviations as well as application-specification terminology related to the world of CAD/CAM in alphabetical order.