The benefi ts of civilisation which we enjoy today are essentially due to the improved quality of products available to us. The improvement in the quality of goods can be achieved with proper design that takes into consideration the functional requirement as well as its manufacturing aspects. The design process that would take proper care of the manufacturing process as well would be the ideal one. This would ensure a better product being made available at an economical cost.

Manufacturing is involved in turning raw materials to fi nished products to be used for some purpose. In the present age there have been increasing demands on the product performance by way of desirable exotic properties such as resistance to high temperatures, higher operating speeds and extra loads. These in turn would require a variety of new materials and its associated processing. Also, exacting working conditions that are desired in the modern industrial operations make large demands on the manufacturing industry.

Manufacturing is defi ned by the Merriam Webster online dictionary as to make into a product suitable to use. Manufacturing remained as a craft till the fi rst industrial revolution towards the end of the 18th century with low volumes and single-piece productions. It required highly skilled craftsmen to individually produce the pieces and fi t them when the assembly was required. This was a slow and expensive process, but in the absence of any machines, that was the only thing that was possible. The availability of the steam engine and coal-fi re furnaces made the invention of a number of steam-power driven machinery to greatly increase the manufacturing capacity. A large number of inventions related to machine tools took place during this period and continued into the 19th century. Towards the end of the 19th century with the invention of electricity and better engineering materials, manufacturing operations became more productive. The developments in the automobiles at the beginning of the 20th century are instrumental in the growth of a variety of manufacturing methods and practices.

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