What is manufacturing?

I know this seems like a silly question, but as I read articles from the MSME and PHDs that are so called PLM experts thinking they know how all of this works, it is very apparent to an experienced Draftsman they have no clue. They sit in some ivory tower and just think how it should work. None have ever created a design or a parts list and probably never poured over a drawing seeing how the parts are made. I chuckle how they use BOM (Bill of Materials) never knowing that was basically an architectural term. I never saw it until working with Autocad, and now it seems to be part of the lexicon of industrial/mechanical engineering. Sadly the PLM folks are trying to expand their sphere of influence into manufacturing. But luckily there is much more common sense in manufacturing and they will not fall for their failed solutions.

Manufacturing takes the drawing and creates the parts. When the parts are made they are inspected to the drawing and delivered for assembly.  Manufacturing is not part of engineering or drafting. Once they get the drawings they usually put them in a different format to use in different processes. Many companies have planning groups that manage the manufacturing process.

At assembly, engineering may or may not supervise the process assuring that the assembly meets the functionality of the design. After that engineering will step out of the picture unless there are “Problems”!!

Sometimes engineering is not present at assembly. Imagine an aircraft assembly line. The plane starts down this line. There is a part that doesn’t fit or the assembly instructions are vague. They have a liaison engineer that instantly handles the problem with a temporary fix. Nothing can hold up the assembly line. He/she will write up a rejection tag describing the problem and the fix. This rejection tag is sent to the responsible group.