In today's global economy, it is quite common for a component to be designed in one country, manufactured in another and assembled in yet another. The processes of manufacture and assembly are based on the communication of engineering information via drawing. These drawings follow rules laid down in national and international standards and codes of practice. The highest standards are the international ones since they allow companies to operate in global markets. The organisation which is responsible for the international rules is the International Standards Organisation (ISO). There are hundreds of ISO standards on engineering drawing and the reason is that drawing is very complicated and accurate transfer of information must be guaranteed. The information contained in an engineering drawing is actually a legal specification, which contractor and subcontractor agree to in a binding contract. The ISO standards are designed to be independent of any one language and thus much symbology is used to overcome a reliance on any language. Companies can only operate efficiently if they can guarantee the correct transmission of engineering design information for manufacturing and assembly.

This book is meant to be a short introduction to the subject of engineering drawing for manufacture. It is only six chapters long and each chapter has the thread of the ISO standards running through it. It should be noted that standards are updated on a five-year rolling programme and therefore students of engineering drawing need to be aware of the latest standards because the goalposts move regularly! Check that...