Recommendations for good Industrial Engineering books

[DumKaffa]

Hi I'm a mechanical engineering that just started my first job. I have learned (to my dismay) that the majority of courses I did at school are very theoretical and completely useless in industry and so I'm basically learning to do my job from scratch. I'm currently involved in the construction of a new cement plant and this involves installation of huge machines using precision equipment. This is all very new too me and so I feel lost most of the time at work.

Someone please recommend a book that has detailed explanations on the procedures and tools used for installation of mechanical equipment as well as any other usefully information about engineering projects that can help me find my feet.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Michael Monte]

A good starting point are the courses you took ... You say it is theoretical but now it is time to put the theory in practice. Any book you read will have some references to the theory you studied. As you are involved in construction you have a good starting point. Don't expect to find a book to solve your project, use the info to do the project

grtz
M.

 

[tygerdawg]

First things first: explain in much greater detail what it is that you are expected to do. Your description does not have enough detail. Heavy equipment? Structures? Equipment rigging & moving? Motors, couplings, and shafts? Piping? Bearing replacement?

I had a short time working in a chemical plant and was impressed that my ME training was almost worthless. What WOULD HAVE BEEN useful was an apprenticeship in MILLWRIGHT skills for setting & aligning motors / couplings / pumps / shafts, leveling equipment, and so on. I made friends with the senior Millwrights and they let me look over their shoulder and I learned a lot.

If this is the case for you, then here are some suggestions:

Machinery's Handbook (get the larger size version)
There were once a series of books by "Audel" called "Audel's Handbooks" (I think) that were for millwright skills. Maybe they still exist on the market today for purchase, or can get them from the library. They showed the "how to" of a lot of these topics.
A search of Amazon would probably turn up quite a number of excellent texts and handbooks on the subjects you need to learn about. Spend the money.