外文翻译--信息时代的机械工程及工程师在机械行业的应用.docVIP

附录一 英文原文 Manufacturing Engineering in the Information and The Roles of Engineers in Manufacturing 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 world 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 have got a short development cycles, the situation is not catastrophic, as long as you maintain you lead. But if you are in the midst of a six year development process and a competitor gets wind of you 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 tapes, and everything else required to manufacture your product. Engineers can then focus their professional competence on unsolved problems. In tackling such problems, the availability of workstations 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 m