It’s a while since I’ve included a book in EE Bookshelf, but I’ve purchased a lot of books lately on the manufacturing process — specifically material science and manufacturing techniques — so I figured a few book suggestions are long overdue.  There are a decent number of good books out there on manufacturing and industrial design (I picked up six after collecting some recommendations), but by far the best book of the bunch to me was Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals by Rob Thompson.  It wasn’t the cheapest book of the bunch, but it’s an exceptional value and a fascinating read if you have any interest in moving from a populated PCB to a finished product, but don’t know what options are out there to wrap around your PCB.  Thompson not only goes into sufficient detail on many modern manufacturing processes — describing their relative strengths, weakness, associated costs, etc. — but the book relies heavily on invaluable technical illustrations and photographs, including some inspiring examples of products that were manufactured with the said process.  If you’re interested in getting inside factories around the world, this is the cheapest quality tour you’ll find!