- Email: [email protected]
AGV system specification, procurement and implementation guide
Bookreview Unmanageable in this form A G V System Specification, Procurement and Implementation Guide by
Guy A Castleberry. Published by A G V Decisions, W1, USA. 1992. $250. 208pp. This book describes itself as a 'step by step guide to purchasing and installing an automated guide vehicle system'. The outlook is very practical, and focuses particularly on two areas: how to choose the right system and vendor; and system specification. The book is in two parts. The first describes project planning and management. It includes some sensible practical points on the composition of a project team and areas to be considered in a four phase process for choosing and installing a system: planning and analysis, design and development, procurement, and implementation. It includes some semi-quantitative ideas for comparing different AGV systems and vendors, and some technical points to raise with vendors. The second part of the book, which occupies about two thirds of the total, aims to be a stepby-step guide to the whole process. It includes initial letters to potential vendors, and suggests detailed systems specification. The emphasis on documentation is sound; adequate documentation is often the weakest point in commissioned or bought-in systems, and can make the system unworkable. The author also emphasizes the importance of establishing the context of a continuing relationship with the vendor, and ascertaining the point of handover of responsibility at an early
142
stage. These points were particularly interesting given the author's experience as the vending partner. The book gives an enormous amount of detail to be considered in choosing an AGV, and a large number of points to consider. Amongst the detail there were some good points and some useful questions to act as a starting point on technical discussion. In this sense it is very complete. However, the style is highly idiosyncratic, and there is no guidance through the maze of detail. There is little overall discussion or description: instead the book consists mainly of lists: lists of possible areas to consider in making decisions, in planning, in drawing up specifications. There is insufficient justification on the inclusion or exclusion of items in these lists, or of their relative worth, and little higher level structure to guide the reader on their interpretation. The book also suffers from a lack of good, or indeed any, graphical description; I found only one, poorly presented, diagram in the whole book. The author loves details, but fails to place them in context. The second part (about 130 pages) of the book consists almost entirely of a highly detailed but, in the author's words, 'generic' technical specification for AGV systems. The author is attempting to provide a detailed example to follow in drawing up specifications for a particular system. However, the concept of detailed generic specifications is faulty: detail is only appropriate for specific systems. For example, we are given a control software response time of
5 seconds - but we know nothing about the materials handling system being proposed. This section might have had some application as a detailed case study if a full specification of the application had been given; as it is, there is no coherent path to guide the reader through the detail or to justify its inclusion. I was left feeling puzzled as to the intended readership. The first part of the book claims to help engineers, purchasing agents and operations personnel choose and install an AGV system for material handling. It is clear that major investment is expected, so the project team should already be experienced in contract negotiation and planning; if not there are far more complete texts available. The worth of this section should therefore be in providing technical information for decision making. However, there is little overview of different AGV systems; the reader is simply referred to another book by the same author. The bulk of material presented through the various lists and tables is too specific to be comprehensible without the background. More seriously, even with knowledge of the various technologies available, the material is unmanageable is its present form; higher level discussion and guidance is needed. A similar problem lies behind the second section on specification; the reader is left wondering which items are general to all AGV systems and which are entirely specific to certain implementations. Overall, then, the book may be worth a quick read, but even given the major investment planned I find is hard to justify the price of $250.
PENELOPE PROBERT University of Oxford, UK
Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems
Guy A Castleberry. Published by A G V Decisions, W1, USA. 1992. $250. 208pp. This book describes itself as a 'step by step guide to purchasing and installing an automated guide vehicle system'. The outlook is very practical, and focuses particularly on two areas: how to choose the right system and vendor; and system specification. The book is in two parts. The first describes project planning and management. It includes some sensible practical points on the composition of a project team and areas to be considered in a four phase process for choosing and installing a system: planning and analysis, design and development, procurement, and implementation. It includes some semi-quantitative ideas for comparing different AGV systems and vendors, and some technical points to raise with vendors. The second part of the book, which occupies about two thirds of the total, aims to be a stepby-step guide to the whole process. It includes initial letters to potential vendors, and suggests detailed systems specification. The emphasis on documentation is sound; adequate documentation is often the weakest point in commissioned or bought-in systems, and can make the system unworkable. The author also emphasizes the importance of establishing the context of a continuing relationship with the vendor, and ascertaining the point of handover of responsibility at an early
142
stage. These points were particularly interesting given the author's experience as the vending partner. The book gives an enormous amount of detail to be considered in choosing an AGV, and a large number of points to consider. Amongst the detail there were some good points and some useful questions to act as a starting point on technical discussion. In this sense it is very complete. However, the style is highly idiosyncratic, and there is no guidance through the maze of detail. There is little overall discussion or description: instead the book consists mainly of lists: lists of possible areas to consider in making decisions, in planning, in drawing up specifications. There is insufficient justification on the inclusion or exclusion of items in these lists, or of their relative worth, and little higher level structure to guide the reader on their interpretation. The book also suffers from a lack of good, or indeed any, graphical description; I found only one, poorly presented, diagram in the whole book. The author loves details, but fails to place them in context. The second part (about 130 pages) of the book consists almost entirely of a highly detailed but, in the author's words, 'generic' technical specification for AGV systems. The author is attempting to provide a detailed example to follow in drawing up specifications for a particular system. However, the concept of detailed generic specifications is faulty: detail is only appropriate for specific systems. For example, we are given a control software response time of
5 seconds - but we know nothing about the materials handling system being proposed. This section might have had some application as a detailed case study if a full specification of the application had been given; as it is, there is no coherent path to guide the reader through the detail or to justify its inclusion. I was left feeling puzzled as to the intended readership. The first part of the book claims to help engineers, purchasing agents and operations personnel choose and install an AGV system for material handling. It is clear that major investment is expected, so the project team should already be experienced in contract negotiation and planning; if not there are far more complete texts available. The worth of this section should therefore be in providing technical information for decision making. However, there is little overview of different AGV systems; the reader is simply referred to another book by the same author. The bulk of material presented through the various lists and tables is too specific to be comprehensible without the background. More seriously, even with knowledge of the various technologies available, the material is unmanageable is its present form; higher level discussion and guidance is needed. A similar problem lies behind the second section on specification; the reader is left wondering which items are general to all AGV systems and which are entirely specific to certain implementations. Overall, then, the book may be worth a quick read, but even given the major investment planned I find is hard to justify the price of $250.
PENELOPE PROBERT University of Oxford, UK
Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems