ABSTRACT

Recently the concept of using component features for design and manufacturing applications has received much attention and research effort. Describing components by the use of features is seen by many as the key to genuine integration of the many aspects of design and planning of manufacture, particularly in a modern computer-controlled environment incorporating Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) (Brimson and Downey 1986). Features originate in the reasoning processes used in various design, analysis, and manufacturing activities (Cunningham and Dixon 1988) and are frequently strongly associated with particular application domains.