A FRAMEWORK FOR CONCURRENT PROCESS PLANNING

This paper presents a process planning framework which supports concurrent product and process design. The planning framework is based on the concepts of form feature and stock composition. It traces form features and their spatial relationship in the product model to estimate intermediate stock shapes and material removal volumes on the stock. A process plan representation scheme is proposed to capture the process data and to support implementation of concurrent engineering systems. The proposed scheme organizes process plan data into three hierarchical object classes: subprocess, operation cluster, and operation. All required process information including setup, machine, tool, fixture, volume shape, and constraints are specified in the scheme. The implementation and application of this proposed framework are also addressed in this paper.