Industrial-production

This book is geared towards the absolute beginner. It illustrates well the basics of analogue audio both for video and live production. However, although being a good 'hands on' book for the beginner, it does not treat any of the more important technical concepts in professional broadcast. Apart from the above, the book fails to deal with digital audio in video-production and so misses on an important milestone in the modern audio field.

A lot of excellent case studies, with a bit of theory on the different main topics of operations management. Answers to the case studies will be a great addition.

This book presents quite a surprise. It includes an introduction to construction network diagramming (predominantly activity-on-arrow method, not precedence diagramming), and then digresses on a tangent which includes a great wealth of information on general construction issues (fast-tracking, design-build, claims, contract issues, OSHA, shop drawings, daily field reports, company management, etc...), issues which were unexpected and somewhat irrelevant to the the specific subject at hand -- CPM scheduling. The examples and introduction to CPM techniques were somewhat cursory, and did not include the typical worksheets and detail for the reader to follow the critical path and float calculations.

My biggest gripe is that the book is focused on describing how to use a commercial spreadsheet program (Lotus or Quattro based) called "FASTPRO CPM Scheduler" which the book is based on ... a disk is included with the book that includes a Student version of the spreadsheet program. If you don't buy and use this specific software, roughly 1/3 of the book and the disk are useless to you. This is certainly not obvious to the reader from the title.

In summary, the book provides a surprising broad general reference for construction management methods, and a good reference for using the specific commercial software that it is based on. If you plan on using any other software (Primavera, MS Project), the book contains alot of program information which you will probably never use.

This book contains a lot of formulas and its origin. Many examples are used to explain the formula in detail. Besides that, there are many study cases in the end of every chapter. This explanation on the formula, its origin, examples and study cases is the streght of this book.

The weakness of this book is that it discusses a broad topics, From inventory to forecast, from supply chain to Just In time.
This broad topic makes this book has no focus at all.

Furthermore, this book doesn't define the definition of "Lean Production Systems" well. After I read this book, the question of 'What is a Lean Production Systems' is still not clear.

The other weakness is that this book emphasises on the material flow very much. Shortly this book is rather logistic management (in internal company) than manufacturing / process management.

This book presents a logical approach to building and runing a modern manufacturing factory based upon successful, proven techniques. Six chapters deal with developing / rebuilding the factory according to advise from recognized experts in their respective fields.Operation of the factory is then discussed in detail. In other words, how to manufacture a product in the best, most cost effective manner is clearly explained. Next, some important essential enginering principals are discussed to give the reader a foundation as he approaches raw material selection / procurement for manufacturing. Fabrication of those raw materials is dealt with as well. Finally, the assembly process is outlined. This book is an excellent and concise tool for the Manufacturing or Design engineer charged with meeting the demands of manufacturing any product in the world. The reference sections at the end of each chapter list the current expert sources of manufacturing required for more indepth research. I recommend this book as a necessary shelf reference for any Mechanical or Manufacturing Engineer.

If you are learning MS Project, you need to get the newest version 2002. MS has been updating it almost weekly, difficult to keep up. The theoretical foundation of this book is sound. Chap. 8 Managing Project Risk is very useful. It can be used as a graduate level course, 30 - 36 hours. The book does not include examples of real world problem solving and it is short, only 317 pages.

This book is a valuable reference, however, I think it is probably too detailed for most readers. If you're a warehouse manager or plant manager looking for information on improving your material handling and storage areas you may not appreciate having to wade through enormous amounts of technical specs and references to obscure material handling techniques just to find the information you needed. I'm not saying that this book does not have valuable information, only that it also has enormous amounts of information that you probably don't need. If you're a material handling engineer, you may want to have this on your shelf. But for the rest of us, try the book listed below.

The same author has another book "Warehouse Distribution & Operations Handbook" ISBN 0070440026 that is outstanding, and I would recommend buying it first.

FROM: PARVEEN KUMAR GARG 42/6,GANDHI NAGAR JIND-126102 (HARYANA) INDIA PHONE +91 +1681 55862 FAX +91 +1681 55310 Email parmad@satyamonline.com parveenkumargarg@123india.com

sub.: REVIEW OF "MEDICAL AND HYGIENE TEXTILE PRODUCTION - A handbook" - by Allison Mathews and Martin Hardingham

R E V I E W

I am owner of manufacturing unit in India engaged in the business of Absorbent Cotton Wool since 1974. I have completed my graduation in Textile Technology and I am Associate member of The Textile Institute, Manchester. I bought this book in the year 1995 only. The authors have covered all the aspects of manufacturing of Surgical Cotton, Bandages, Gauge, and Sanitary Napkins etc. They have explained processes, testing methods, production planning methods, project setting methods and equipment supplier addresses. The book has been neatly printed and illustrated with diagrams. The authors have maintained clarity, brevity and simplicity in explaining the terminology involved. Perhaps, this is the only book ever written on this subject. Stress has been put upon application of manufacturing process in developing countries. Besides these, non-manufacturing aspects like pollution, labour etc. have also been touched. I am proud to be owner of this book in my library.

Galbraith wrote this book at a time when the corporate world was dominated by large and largely stable corporations, GM, Standard Oil, AT&T, etc. At the time it was arguably plausible that profit was not the main motivation of such large corporations--and judging by their poor management and highly regulated status, it was even more than plausible. It wasn't until MCI, for instance, that AT&T decided to make economic use of all the fiber optic cables it had laid in the ground. Galbraith's basic argument is that profit, in this "new industrial state," is the motivation of neither the corporation nor the individual. For the corporation and its leaders, the primary motivation is to maintain autonomy, to keep the shareholders off their backs, to maintain a minimum level of profitability while pursuing other goals--larger boardrooms, growing sales, promotions, technical vitruosity, etc. The entrepreneur of classical economics is replaced by the "technostructure," which is unmoored from the profit motive and exists more or less in isolation from base economic motives. Likewise for the corporate worker bee, who is guided by more intangible psychological benefits the closer he approaches to the upper reaches of management.

Beneath Galbraith's argument is the assumption that the US and the Soviet are converging, that the motivations of the corporate manager are in degree and not in substance different from that of the Soviet apparatchik. Neither are motivated by profit, and both serve the goals of the "technostructure," over which they exercise no control.

Such a book could not be written today, and for a number of reasons. First, nobody can write as well as Galbraith. Second, Galbraith could never pass himself off as an economist in today's academy. Third, Galbraith performs almost no actual research--it is social theory straight from god's mouth to Galbraith's pen. That said, it has its own charm, especially Galbraith's subtly restrained contempt for what is now called "consumer society."

Mr. Cartwright's book is a excellent teaching text for high school or college students studying video and multimedia production. It does a great job of taking the beginner through all of the steps needed to ensure a successful production.

However, one can't help overlook that a text written four years ago on this subject is LONG overdue for a new edition.

Many software applications that are referred to as "soon to be released" are now in their 3rd or 4th version. Likewise, the hardware section of the book is terribly behind the times, as their is virtually no mention of digital video cameras, digital capture cards, current generation non-linear editing systems, or DVD.

Also disappointing was the 3.5" disc that's included, which contains all of the forms in the book. The disc is specially formatted so that it cannot be read on a Macintosh-which CAN read any commonly formatted PC diskette! Instead the publisher encourages Mac users to send in the PC disk and receive a Mac disk at no charge. Why not just use the standard 1.4mb formatting for a PC disk and let users of either platform access the material? Or better yet, just put the forms on a hybrid CD-ROM. This is especially irksome to Mac devotees, when practically all of the computers pictured in the book doing video editing are Macs!

Yet, despite its need for a new edition to address the latest and greatest in hardware and software, and its platform specific floppy, Pre-Production and Planning for Video, Film and Multimedia will serve as a valuable resource for those new to the pre and post production arena, as much of the planning and organizational approaches in the text never go out of style!