ABSTRACT
Process planning is the function within a manufacturing facility that establishes the processes and process parameters to be used in order to convert a piecepart from its original form to a final form that is specified on a detailed engineering drawing. For the manufacturing domain, process planning includes determination of the specific operations (machines, cutters, fixtures, etc.) required and their sequence. In some cases, the selection of depth of cut, feed rate, and cutting speed for each machining operation is also included in the process planning for a part. Due to the advent of computer technology and the need for shorter production lead time, there has been a general demand for computer-aided process planning (CAPP) systems to assist human planners and achieve the integration of computeraided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Recently, the emerging product design practice employing the design for manufacturing (DFM) philosophy also needs a CAPP system to generate the best process plan for a given part for manufacturing evaluation. On the other hand, in order to meet today's ever-tighter delivery schedule from the customers (especially for the tooling industry), the production planner needs a powerful and flexible CAPP system to accommodate the dynamic scheduling needs.
