This book aims to give the reader an appreciation and understanding of: 1. the ways in which manufacturing companies are organised, 2. the nature and diversity of engineering products, 3. the organisation of production, 4. the planning and control of production. The book more than covers the BTEC units Control of manufacture U83/188 and Production planning and control U83/189 and has been written primarily for use in BTEC Higher National Certificate and Higher National Diploma programmes in Mechanical and Production Engineering. While it is recognised that computer programs can be used for many of the topics considered in the book, it was felt that the emphasis in the book should be on the establishment of the basic principles by working things out "by hand" . This was felt to be more appropriate in a text concerned with the introduction of basic principles and would then enable the reader to use computer programs intelligently and be more able to interpret the results with understanding. Each chapter includes revision questions and case problems. Outlines of answers to all revision questions are given. References are included throughout the text, and in a further reading section, to texts and standards which can be used to extend the coverage provided by the text. It Is recognised that the entire subject could be taught though assignments based on a real company or a "paper" company and this issue is addressed in the Appendix to the book.