Mechatronics: Japan's Newest Threat


Book Description




Electromechanical Systems


Book Description

The technical committee on mechatronics formed by the International Federation for the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms, in Prague, Czech Republic, adopted the following definition for the term: Mechatronics is the synergistic combination of precision mechanical engineering, electronic control and systems thinking in the design products and manufacturing process.Due to developments in powerful computers, including microprocessors and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICS), computational techniques, diverse technologies, advances in the design process of products and other factors, the field of mechatronics has evolved as a highly powerful and most cost effective means for product realization.




Mechatronics


Book Description

This book identifies the concepts which underpin the mechatronic approach to engineering design and brings together its principal components - sensors and transducers, embedded microprocessors, actuators and drives to explore their interrelationships. Several case-studies are presented which specifically illustrate the theory and practice of mechatronics in successful real-life applications.




Solar Energy Conversion in Communities


Book Description

This book presents novel findings concerning the systems, materials and processes used in solar energy conversion in communities. It begins with the core resource – solar radiation – and discusses the restrictions on the wide-scale implementation of conversion systems imposed by the built environment, as well as potential solutions. The book also describes efficient solar energy conversion in detail, focusing on heat and electricity production in communities and water reuse. Lastly, it analyzes the concept of sustainable communities, presenting examples from around the globe, along with novel approaches to improving their feasibility and affordability. Though chiefly intended for professionals working in the field of sustainability at the community level, the book will also be of interest to researchers, academics and doctoral students.




Corporate Governance and Sustainable Prosperity


Book Description

How can we explain the persistent worsening of the income distribution in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s? What are the prospects for the re-emergence of sustainable prosperity in the US economy over the next generation? Situating these questions within a wider context through historical analysis and comparisons with Germany and Japan, this book focuses on the microeconomics of corporate investment behaviour, and the macroeconomics of household saving behaviour. Specifically, the contributors analyze how the combined pressures of excessive corporate growth, international competition, and intergenerational dependence have influenced corporate investment over the past two decades. They also offer a perspective on how corporate investment in skill bases can support sustainable prosperity, with studies drawn from the machine tool, aircraft engine, and medical equipment industries.







Reengineering


Book Description

The first practical guide to using reengineering to dramatically improve the development and success of new products. Executives, product development teams and engineering design groups will see how to consistently execute successful new product launches. In a compelling, clear fashion, Hunt describes how companies can fully integrate their product development process by focusing on seven key initiatives. They include process understanding; broad-based process reengineering; establishing quality goals and multi-functional teams; using the right tools and techniques; and implementing ongoing continuous improvement.










Process Mapping


Book Description

A business organization, like a human body, is only as effective as its various processes. Pretty obvious, right? Yet, as V. Daniel Hunt demonstrates in this groundbreaking book, the failure to appreciate this obvious fact is the reason most reengineering schemes fail. Managers whose job it is to improve company performance, like physicians who work to improve patient health, must develop a clear picture of how each process fits into the overall organizational structure; how it ought to function; and how well it is performing at any given moment; before they can form a diagnosis or devise a treatment strategy. Fortunately, a powerful new analytical tool that has emerged in recent years helps you to do all of that and much more. Developed at General Electric, process mapping has been implemented in companies around the globe, and the results have been simply astonishing. Now find out how to make this breakthrough reengineering technology work for your organization in Process Mapping. The first and only hands-on guide of its kind, Process Mapping arms you with a full complement of state-of-the-art tools and techniques for assessing existing business processes and developing a detailed road map for ongoing change and improvement. Internationally known management consultant and bestselling author V. Daniel Hunt guides you step-by-step through the entire process. He helps you assess the need for process reengineering in your organization and determine whether or not a process map is what you need. He shows you how to create a process mapping team and helps you select the best-buy process mapping tools for the job. He explains how to gather vital information about your business processes via focused interviews and other interview techniques, and how to use this data in implementing process mapping. He also offers expert advice on how to apply your process map to significantly improve business functions and bottom-line performance. Hunt draws upon the experiences of companies around the world whose process mapping success stories will be a source of inspiration and instruction. You'll find out just how process mapping was put to use--and the results it achieved--at General Electric, IBM, NASA, Tandy Electronics, Shawmut National Bank, Fluor Daniel, Exxon, and other leading product and service firms. Find out all about today's most important new management tool and how to put it to work for continuous improvement in your organization in Process Mapping. The first and only hands-on guide to a powerful new process mapping tool The most important new process improvement tool to come along in more than a decade, process mapping enables managers to easily identify and assess the various business processes that make up their organizations and to develop a road map for continued performance improvement. Now find out how to make this breakthrough management tool work in your organization by applying Process Mapping. V. Daniel Hunt, the bestselling author of Reengineering, Quality in America, and The Survival Factor, guides you step-by-step through the entire process. He gives you all the proven process mapping tools and techniques you need to: * Assess the need for process improvement in your company * Decide if process mapping is right for you * Create a process mapping team * Select the best process mapping software tools for the job * Collect vital information about business processes * Use the data to build your own process map * Use your process map to significantly improve bottom-line business performance Hunt also provides detailed case studies of product and service companies around the globe that have discovered the value of process mapping. You'll find out how General Electric, IBM, NASA, Tandy Electronics, Shawmut National Bank, Fluor Daniel, Exxon, and other leading companies achieved stunning results when they made process mapping part of their business improvement efforts.