Computer–aided planning of machining processes

Abstract

Process planning is the intermediate stage between product design and manufacture, where the geometrical design data is used for the determination of the technical manufacturing data. While considerable attention has been paid to the development of CAD/CAM systems, the process planning activity, which is an important link between design and manufacturing, has had only limited interest. In spite of the extensive investigations carried out in the field of automated process planning, there still seems to be no reliable integrated system which covers the different manufacturing processes. Some of the available systems are applicable only to a few parts produced by a particular process or on a particular type of machine, while others are applicable only to a small variety of parts. In the present paper, an automated process planning system is developed which can be applied to different manufacturing processes and workpiece shapes.