After seven years of in-the-making, it’s a thrill to announce the publication of Introduction to Manufacturing: An Industrial Engineering and Management Perspective—an 800-page textbook coauthored with Michel Baudin and published by Routledge.

We were glad when we received an overwhelmingly positive response from early reviewers and endorsers—for example:

• “Baudin and Netland’s comprehensive text serves as an important and timely reminder that manufacturing remains as important in a world of ubiquitous digitalization, as it ever has been.“ –Matthias Holweg, Professor and American Standard Companies Chair of Operations Management, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
• “This superb book explains how to design, manage, and improve manufacturing operations. Based on their deep expertise, Baudin and Netland compellingly present a great resource of manufacturing knowledge – useful for both novices and experts.“ –Prof. Charles H. Fine, Chrysler LGO Professor of Management at MIT Sloan School of Management
• “This is the first book of its kind, situated at the nexus of manufacturing, industrial engineering, and management – precisely what students and organizations need.“ –Adedeji Badiru, Professor and Dean of Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology

How is Introduction to Manufacturing different? Unlike the many good textbooks on operations management, supply chain management, and process technology, our book weaves together these threads as they interact in manufacturing. It has five parts:

1. Getting to Know Manufacturing: Fundamental concepts of manufacturing as an economic activity, from manufacturing strategy to forecasting market demand.
2. Engineering the Factory: Physical design of factories and processes, the necessary infrastructure and technology for manufacturing.
3. Making Information Flow: The “central nervous system” that triggers and responds to events occurring in production.
4. Making Materials Flow: The logistics of manufacturing, from materials handling inside the factory via warehousing to supply chain management.
5. Enhancing Performance: Managing manufacturing performance and methods to maintain and improve it, both in times of normal operations and emergencies.

It admittedly took Michel and me a loooong time to finish this project. Writing a textbook proved to be a herculean task: How do we structure the chapters? What materials should we include? What should we leave out? What photos or case studies can illustrate the points? Are we sure the information is correct? Do we reference original sources correctly without making the text harder to read? These were a few among the many questions we had along the way.

Supported with rich illustrations and teaching aids, we hope Introduction to Manufacturing will become the essential reading for industrial engineering and management students – of all ages and backgrounds.

Get your copy on Routledge.com, Amazon.com, Amazon.de or your other preferred book channels.