Book excerpt: This book provides comprehensive and in-depth coverage of manufacturing processes from the standpoint of the product designer. Reflecting a growing need in industry and education for design-driven instruction, this book demonstrates the importance of considering the selection of manufacturing method early in the design process, illustrating how the selection of method directly affects the geometric characteristics of products. Beginning with a study of the design process itself in Chapter 1, readers are taken through the product development process, with concurrent engineering presented in Chapter 2 (new to this Second Edition) and cost - as a factor affecting design and manufacturability - covered in a new Chapter 11. Augmenting the book's design orientation are new chapters on design for assemble (Chapter 12) and environmentally conscious design and manufacturing (Chapter 13). The book also includes a wealth of worked-out design examples and design projects (in Chapters 3-11), and an appendix on materials engineering that explains how materials are selected in the design of products. This book provides engineers and product designers with solidly quantitative, design-driven discussion of manufacturing processes that supports a systems approach to manufacturing.