英文翻译-信息时代的机械工程

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Mechanical Engineering in the Information Age

In the early 1980s, engineers thought that massive research would be

needed to speed up product development. As it turns out, less research is

actually needed because shortened product development cycles encourage

engineers to use available technology. Developing a revolutionary

technology for use in a new product is risky and prone to failure. Taking

short steps is a safer and usually more successful approach to product

development.

Shorter product development cycles are also beneficial in an

engineering would in which both capital and labor are global. People who

can design and manufacture various products can be found anywhere in

the world, but containing a new idea is hard. Geographic distance is no

longer a barrier to others finding out about your development six months

into the process. If you’ve got a short development cycle, the situation is

not catastrophic－as long as you maintain your lead. But if you’re in the

midst of a six-year development process and a competitor gets wind of

your work, the project could be in more serious trouble.

The idea that engineers need to create a new design to solve every

problem is quickly becoming obsolete. The first step in the modern

design process is to browse the Internet or other information systems to

see if someone else has already designed a transmission, or a heat

exchanger that is close to what you need. Through these information

systems, you may discover that someone already has manufacturing

drawings, numerical control programs, and everything else required to

manufacture your product. Engineers can then focus their professional

competence on unsolved problems.

Many engineers have as their function the designing of products that are

to be brought into reality through the processing or fabrication of

materials. In this capacity they are a key factor in the material selection-

manufacturing procedure. A design engineer, better than any other

person, should know what he or she wants a design to accomplish. He

knows what assumptions he has made about service loads and

requirements, what service environment the product must withstand, and

what appearance he wants the final product to have. In order to meet

these requirements he must select and specify the material(s) to be used.

In most cases, in order to utilize the material and to enable the product to

have the desired form, he knows that certain manufacturing processes

will have to be employed. In many instances, the selection of a specific

material may dictate what processing must be used. At the same time,

when certain processes are to be used, the design may have to be

modified may dictate what processing must be used. At the same time,

when certain processes are to be used, the design may have be modified

in order for the process to be utilized effectively and economically.

Certain dimensional tolerances can dictate the processing. In any case, in

the sequence of converting the design into reality, such decisions must be

made by someone. In most instances they can be made most effectively at

the design stage, by the designer if he has are a son ably adequate

knowledge concerning materials and manufacturing processes.

Otherwise, decisions may be made that will detract from thee

effectiveness of the product, or the product may be needlessly costly. It is

thus apparent that design engineers are a vital factor in the manufacturing

process, and it is indeed a blessing to the company if they can design for

producibility—that is, for efficient production.

Manufacturing engineers select and coordinate specific processes

and equipment to be used, or supervise and manage their use. Some

design special tooling that is used so that standard machines can be

utilized en producing specific products. These engineers must habe

abroad knowledge of machine and process capabilities and of materials,

so that desired operations can be done effectively and effi8ciently without

overloading or damaging machines and without adversely affecting the

materials being processed. These manufacturing engineers also play an

important role en manufacturing.

A relatively small group of engineers design the machines and

equipment used en manufacturing. They obviously are design engineers

and, relative to their products, they have the same concerns of the

interrelationship of design, materials, and manufacturing processes.

However they have an even greater concern regarding the properties of

the materials that their machines are going to process and the

interrelations of the materials and machines.

Still another group of engineers—the materials engineers—devote

their major efforts toward developing new and better materials. They, too,

must be concerned with how these materials can be processed and with

the effects the processing will have on the properties of the materials.

Although their roles may be quite different, it is apparent that a large

proportion of engineers must concern themselves with the

interrelationship between materials and manufacturing processes.

Low-cost manufacture does not just happen. There is a close and

interdependent relationship between the design of a product, selection of

materials, selection of processes and equipment, and tooling selection and

design. Each of these must be carefully considered, planned, and

coordinated before manufacturing starts. This lead time, particularly for

complicated products, may take months, even years, and the expenditure

of large amount of money may be involved. Typically, the lead time for a

completely new model of an automobile is about 2 years, for amodern

aircraft it may be 4years.

In tackling such problems, the availability of high-powered personal

computers and access to the information highway dramatically enhance

the capability of the engineering team and its productivity. These

information age tools can give the team access to massive databases of

material properties, standards, technologies, and successful designs. Such

protested designs can be downloaded for direct use or quickly modified to

meet specific needs. Remote manufacturing, in which product

instructions are sent out over a network, is also possible. You could end

up with a virtual company where you don’t have to see any hardware.

When the product is completed, you can direct the manufacturer to drop-

ship it to your customer. Periodic visits to the customer can be made to

ensure that the product you designed is working according to the

specifications. Although all of these developments won’t apply equally to

every company, the potential is there.

Custom design used to be left to small companies. Big companies

sneered at it－they hated the idea of dealing with niche markets or small-

volume custom solutions. “Here is my product,” One of the big

companies would say. “ This is the best we can make it －you ought to

like it. If you don’t, there’s smaller company down the street that will

work on your problem. ”

Today, nearly every market is a niche market, because customers are

selective. If you ignore the potential for tailoring your product to specific

customers’ needs, you will lose the major part of your market share －

perhaps all of it. Since these niche markets are transient, your company

needs to be in a position to respond to them quickly.

The emergence of niche markets and design on demand has altered

the way engineers conduct research. Today, research is commonly

directed toward solving particular problems. Although this situation is

probably temporary, much uncommitted technology, developed at

government expense or written off by major corporations, is available

today at very low cost. Following modest modifications, such technology

can often be used directly in product development, which allows many

organizations to avoid the expense of an extensive research effort. Once

the technology is free of major obstacles, the research effort can focus on

overcoming the barriers to commercialization rather than on pursuing

new and interesting, but undefined, alternatives.

When viewed in this perspective, engineering research must focus

primarily on removing the barriers to rapid commercialization of known

technologies. Much of this effort must address quality and reliability

concerns, which are foremost in the minds of today’s consumers. Clearly,

a reputation for poor quality is synonymous with bad business.

Everything possible －including thorough inspection at the end of the

manufacturing line and automatic replacement of defective products －

must be done to assure that the customer receives a properly functioning

product.

Research has to focus on the cost benefit of factors such as

reliability. As reliability increases, manufacturing costs and the final cost

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摘要：

MechanicalEngineeringintheInformationAgeIntheearly1980s,engineersthoughtthatmassiveresearchwouldbeneededtospeedupproductdevelopment.Asitturnsout,lessresearchisactuallyneededbecauseshortenedproductdevelopmentcyclesencourageengineerstouseavailabletechnology.Developingarevolutionarytechnologyforuseinan...

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