Ralph Schindler has written up a guide to correlate with the recent 1.8 release of the Zend Framework about using the Zend_Tool component to create projects and their parts.

By now, you are sure to have heard the news, Zend Framework 1.8 has landed. [...] Most components have a class at its top level namespace, Zend_Tool does not. Most components are generally consumed inside your application code to simplify runtime tasks, Zend_Tool does not. Zend_Tool is more akin to a framework than a component '" a framework within a framework.

He talks about the Zend_Tool component as a framework, the Zend_CodeGenerator/Zend_Reflection components and Zend_Tool_project (that lets you automate project creation without needing to call Zend_Tool over and over). Several screenshots are included in the post showing what the tool can do including error handling if there's an issue.