Direct interface integration of CAD and CAM software — a milling application

Abstract

Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) is considered to be a strategy for planning, implementing, and integrating many functions in a manufacturing organization. A concurrent engineering design environment encourages multi-disciplinary communication of design ideas very early in the design cycle. A contemporary approach to realize the benefits of concurrent engineering design uses automated computer systems and a plethora of computer aided engineering tools. Methods are needed to integrate these tools, as most of them are stand-alone software tools that do not communicate to each other effectively. This paper presents a methodology that can integrate an advanced CAD software and a process planning software. A milling application example is used to demonstrate how the primary machining parameters can be calculated and directly imported to the CAD software, thus creating a seamless preparation of the NC part program.