中英文翻译--计算机与制造业.doc

TheComputerandManufacturingThecomputerisbringingmanufactuingintotheInformationAge.Thisnewtool,longafamiliaroneinbusinessandmanagementoperation,ismovingintothefactory,anditsadventischangingmanufacturingascertainlyasthesteanenginechangeditmorethan200yearsago.Thebasicmetalworkingprocessesarenotlikelytochangefundamentally,buttheirorganizationandcontraldefinitelywill.Inonerespect,manufacturingcouldbesaidtobecomingfullcircle.Thefirstmanufacturingwasacottageindustry:thedesignerwasalsothemanufacturer,conceivingandfabricatingproductsoneatatime.Eventually,theconceptoftheinterchangeabilityofpartswasdeveloped,productedthousandaatatime.Today,althoughthedesignerandmanufacturermaynotbecomeoneagain,thefunctionsarebeingdrawncloseinthemovementtowardanintegratedmanufacturingsystem.Itiaperhapsironicthat,atatimewhenthemarketdemandsahinhdegreeofproductdiversification,themanufacturingentepriseshavetoincreaseproductivityandreducecosts,Customersaredemandinghinhqualityanddiversifiedproductsforlessmoney.Thecomputeristhekeytomeettheserequirements.Itistheonlytoolthatcanprovidethequickreflexes,theflexibilityandspeed,tomeetadiversifiedmarket.Anditistheonlytoolthatenablesthedetailedanalysisandtheaccesssibiltyofaccuratedatanecessaryfortheintegrationofthemanufacturingsystem.Itmaywellbethat,inthefuture,thecomputermaybeessentialtoacompanyssurvival.Manyoftodaysbusinesseswillfadeawaytobereplacedbymore-productivecombinations.Suchmore-productivecombinationsaresuperquality,superproductivityplants.Thegoalistodesignandoperateaplantthatwouldproduce100%satisfactorypartswithgoodproductivity.Asophisticated,competitiveworldisrequiringthatmanufacturingbegintosettleformore,tobecomeitselfsophisticated.Tomeetcompetition,forexample,acompanywillhavetomeetthesomewhatconflictingdemandsforgreaterproductdiversification,hinherquality,improvedproductivity,andlowprices.Thecompanythatseekstomeetthesedemandswillneedasophisticatedtool,onethatwillallowittorespondquicklytocustomerneedswhilegettingthemostoutofitsmanufacturingresources.Thecomputeristhattool.Becominga“superquality,superproductivity”plantrequirestheintegrationofanextremelycomplexsystem.Thiscanbeaccomplishedonlywhenallelementsofmanufacturing-design,fabricationandassembly,qualityassurance,management,materialshandling-arecomputerintegrated.Inproductdesign,forexample,interactivecomputer-aided-design(CAD)systemsallowthedrawingandanalysistaskstobeperformedinafractionofthetimepreviouslyrequiredandwithgreateraccuracy.Andprogramsforprototypetestingandevaluationfurtherspeedthedesignprocess.Inmanufacturingplanning,computer-aidedprocessplanningpermitstheselection,fromthousandsofpossiblesequencesandschedules,oftheoptinunprocess.Ontheshopfloor,distributedintelligenceintheformofmicroprocessorscontrolsmachines,runsautomatedloadingandunloadingequipment,andcollectsdataoncurrentshopconditions.Butsuchisolatedrevolutionsarenotenough,Whatisneededisatotallyautomatedsystem,linkedbycommonsoftwarefromfrontdoortoback.Essentially,computerintegrationprovideswidelyandinstantaneouslyavailable,accurateinformation,improvingcommunicationbetweendepartments,permittingtightercontrol,andgenerallyenhancingtheoverallqualityandefficiencyoftheentiresystem.Improvedcommunicationcanmean,forexample,designsthataremoreproducible.TheNCprogrammerandthetooldesignerhaveachancetoinfluencetheproductdesigner,andviceversa.Engineeringchanges,thus,canbereduced,andthosethatarerequiredcanbehandledmoreefficiently.Notonlydoesthecomputerpermitthemtobespecifiedmorequickly,butitalsoalertssubsequentusersofthedatatothefactthatachangehasbeenmade.Theinstantaneousupdatingofproduction-controldatapermitsbetterplanningandmore-effectivescheduling.Expensiveequipment,therefore,isusedmoreproductively,andpartsmovemoreefficientlythroughproduction,reducingwork-in-processcosts.Productquality,too,canbeimproved.Notonlyaremore-accuratedesignsproduced,forexample,buttheuseofdesigndatabythequality-assurancedepartmenthelpseliminateerrorsduetomisunderstandings.Peopleareenabledtodosheirjobsbetter.Byeliminatingtediouscalculationandpaperwork-nottomentiontimewastedsearchingforinformation-thecomputermotonlyallowsworkerstobemoreproductivebutalsofreesthemtodowhatonlyhumanbeingscando:thinkcreatively.Computerintegrationmayalsolurenewpeopleintomanufacturing.Peopleareattractedbecausetheywanttoworkinamodern,technologicallysophisticatedenvironment.Inmanufacturingengineering,CAD/CAMdecreasestool-design,NC-programming,andplanningtimeswhilespeedingtheresponserate,whicheilleventuallypermitin-housestafftoperformworkthatiscurrentlybeingcontractedout.计算机与制造业计算机正在将制造业带入信息时代。计算机长期以来在商业和管理方面得到了广泛的应用，它正在作为一种新的工具进入到工厂中，而且它如同蒸汽机在200多年前使制造业发生改变那样，正在使制造业发生着变革。尽管基本的金属切削过程不太可能发生根本性的改变，但是它们的组织形式和控制方式必将发生改变。从某一发面可以说，制造业正在完成一个循环。最初的制造业使家庭手工业：设计者本身也是制造者，产品的构思与加工有同一人完成。后来形成了零件的互换性这个概念，生产被依照专业功能分割开来，可以成批地生产数以千计的相同零件。今天，尽管设计者与制造者不可能再是同一个人，但在向集成制造系统前进的途中，这两种功能已经越来越靠近了。可能具有讽刺意味的是，在市场需求高度多样化的产品的同时，制造业必须提高生产率和降低成本。消费者要求用较少的钱去购买高质量和多样化的产品。计算机是满足这些要求的关键因素。它是能够提供快速反应能力、柔性和来满足多样化市场的唯一工具。而且，它是实现制造系统集成所需要的、能够进行详细分析和利用精确数据的唯一工具。在将来计算机可能会是一个企业生存的基本条件，许多现今的企业将会被生产能力更高的企业组合所取代。这些生产能力更高的企业组合是一些具有非常高的质量、非常高的生产率的工厂。目标是设计和运行一个能够以搞生产率的方式生产100%合格产品的工厂。一个采用先进技术的、竞争的世界正在促使制造业开始做更多的工作，使其本身采用先进的技术。为了适应竞争，一个公司会满足一些在某种程度上相互矛盾的要求，诸如产品多样化、提高质量、增加生产率、降低价格。在努力满足这些要求的过程中，公司需要一个采用先进技术的工具，一个能够对顾客的需求作出快速反应，而且从制造资源中获得最大收益的工具。计算机就是这个工具。成为一个具有“非常高的质量、非常高的生产率”的工厂，需要对一个非常复杂的系统进行集成。这只有通过采用计算机对制造业的所有组成部分设计、加工、装配、质量保证、管理和材料装卸及输送进行集成才能够完成。例如，在产品设计期间，交互式的计算机辅助设计系统使得完成绘图和分析工作所需要的时间比原来减少了几倍，而且精确程度得到了很大的提高。此外，样机的试验与评价程序进一步加快了设计过程。