To understand what we know and be aware of what is to be known has become the central focus in the treatment of CAD/CAM issues. It has been some time since we began treating issues arriving from engineering data handling in a low key fashion because of its housekeeping chores and data maintenance aspects representing nonglamorous issues related to automation. Since the advent of CAD/CAM,large numbers of data bases have been generated through standalone CAD systems. And the rate of this automated means of generating data is rapidly increasing; this is possibly the key factor in changing our way of looking at engineering data related problems. As one deeply involved with engineering data handling and CAD/CAM applications, I know that to succeed, we must do our homework: tracking the trends, keeping abreast of new technologies, new applications, new companies and products that are exploding on the scene every day. In today's fast-paced information handling era, just keeping up is a full-time job. That is why ATI has initiated these publications, in order to bring to the users some of the information regarding their experiences in the important fields of CAD/CAM and engineering data handling. This volume contains some of the paper, including revisions, which were presented at the Fifth Automation Technology Conference held in Monterey, California. A series of publications has been initiated through cooperation between ATI and the Kluwer Academic Publishers. The first volume was Advances in Engineering Data Handling-Case Studies.

To understand what we know and be aware of what is to be known is a necessary approach to treating CAD/CAM issues. The challenge for all of us interested in CAD/CAM and engineering data handling is to under stand what we know and what we need to know about today's and tomorrow's technology, to track the explosive development of our field and its broadening range of applications, to sort through the details which compete for our attention, and to perceive underlying trends. A key development in the past year was the rapid and widespread acceptance by all user segments of personal computer-based CAD/CAM workstations, coupled with widespread use of software packages, both those developed for PC-based workstations and others converted from main frame and mini systems for use on PC-based or 32-bit workstations. If this trend continues for a few more years, as much as 900/0 of all design work may be accomplished on advanced versions of PC-based workstations. Many software systems vendors unknown until recently to the PC-based CAD/CAM community have now come to dominate the market-companies such as Autodesk, Chessell-Robocom, Future Net, T&W Systems, P-CAD, Cascade, 4-D Graphics, CADAM, Wang & Hornbuckle, and more than 20 other companies who sell PC-based CAD/CAM software."

To understand what we know and be aware of what is to be known is a necessary approach to treating CAD/CAM issues. The challenge for all of us interested in CAD/CAM and engineering data handling is to under stand what we know and what we need to know about today's and tomorrow's technology, to track the explosive development of our field and its broadening range of applications, to sort through the details which compete for our attention, and to perceive underlying trends. A key development in the past year was the rapid and widespread acceptance by all user segments of personal computer-based CAD/CAM workstations, coupled with widespread use of software packages, both those developed for PC-based workstations and others converted from main frame and mini systems for use on PC-based or 32-bit workstations. If this trend continues for a few more years, as much as 900/0 of all design work may be accomplished on advanced versions of PC-based workstations. Many software systems vendors unknown until recently to the PC-based CAD/CAM community have now come to dominate the market-companies such as Autodesk, Chessell-Robocom, Future Net, T&W Systems, P-CAD, Cascade, 4-D Graphics, CADAM, Wang & Hornbuckle, and more than 20 other companies who sell PC-based CAD/CAM software."

To understand what we know and be aware of what is to be known has become the central focus in the treatment of CAD/CAM issues. It has been some time since we began treating issues arriving from engineering data handling in a low key fashion because of its housekeeping chores and data maintenance aspects representing nonglamorous issues related to automation. Since the advent of CAD/CAM, large numbers of data bases have been generated through standalone CAD systems. And the rate of this automated means of generating data is rapidly increasing; this is possibly the key factor in changing our way of looking at engineering data related problems. As one deeply involved with engineering data handling and CAD/CAM applications, I know that to succeed, we must do our homework: tracking the trends, keeping abreast of new technologies, new applications, new companies and products that are exploding on the scene every day. In today's fast-paced information handling era, just keeping up is a full-time job. That is why ATI has initiated these publications, in order to bring to the users some of the information regarding their experiences in the important fields of CAD/CAM and engineering data handling. This volume contains some of the paper, including revisions, which were presented at the Fifth Automation Technology Conference held in Monterey, California. A series of publications has been initiated through cooperation between ATI and the Kluwer Academic Publishers. The first volume was Advances in Engineering Data Handling-Case Studies.

To understand what we know and be aware of what is to be known has become the central focus in the treatment of engineering data handling issues. It has been some time since we began treating issues arriving from engineering data handling in a low key fashion because of its housekeeping chores and data maintenance aspects representing nonglamorous issues related to automation. Since the advent of CAD/CAM, large numbers of data bases have been generated through stand alone CAD systems and the rate of this automated means of generating data is rapidly increasing. This possibly is the key factor in changing our way of looking at engineering data related problems. This volume contains some of the papers, including revisions, which were presented at the fourth Automation Technology conference held in Monterey, California. This volume represents ATI's efforts to bring forth some of the important case studies related to engineering data handling from the user's point of view. Because of its potential enormous impact on management and productivity advancement, careful documentation and coordination for outstanding contributions to this area are of utmost importance. This volume may serve as a precursor to additional volumes in the area of engineering data handling and CAD/CAM related user studies. Anyone with comments or suggestions, as well as potential contributors, to this series, is encouraged to contact the editorial board of AT .