برنامه ریزی عملیات به کمک کامپیوتر برای ورق های فلزی بر اساس مدیریت اطلاعات

During the last few years, attention in the manufacturing cycle has shifted towards concurrent engineering (CE). With this, the integration of the different product life cycle processes has become a focus in both research and industry. However, it is obvious that the integration of all manufacturing processes, taking into account all life cycle aspects from initial functional requirements to final disposal, is hardly feasible in the traditional way. In this paper, the execution of the manufacturing cycle based on information management is explained by describing the development of a generic architecture for computer aided process planning. This architecture is elaborated upon for the field of sheet metal manufacturing in a small batch part environment.

In the research presented here, it is advocated that the sheer integration of manufacturing processes within the product life cycle is insufficient to achieve true integrated product development. For this purpose, the main focus should be on the information that is applied and generated in these manufacturing processes. If the information of the separate processes can be made available during the entire development cycle, it can be the basis for the control of the entire manufacturing cycle. In order to take full advantage of the modified role of information in the product development cycle, a different attitude with respect to the manufacturing processes is required. One of the main differences is, that the phases in the manufacturing process become instrumental to the information required in the manufacturing process. This immediately implies that processes in the manufacturing cycle have to be defined as generic as much as possible. For example, it becomes practicable to interchange systems developed for different product types (prismatic, sheet metal, etc.). Moreover, if the interfaces of the mutual systems can be defined adequately, these systems can become independent modules, that are able to perform their tasks without being dependent on a predefined, sequential scenario. A first prerequisite for this is the ability to effectively manage the information that becomes the basis of the manufacturing process.

In recognising that product life cycles can be guided by (the need for) information, information management can become the key to the integration of all processes involved in these life cycles. It has been substantiated, that an architecture for information management can be the foundation for the architectures concerned with design and engineering processes. If these processes are defined in a generic way, with information management as the kernel, the interaction between these processes can be shaped in such a way that virtual integration of these processes can be achieved. The functionality of these design and engineering processes can be combined in different ways, enabling assimilation to different types of products and/or production processes. This offers the possibility to link together the functionality that is required to establish the integral manufacturing process for a specific product. Of particular interest is the fact that there is no need to employ a predefined, hierarchic and rigid scenario. In other words, in applying the principles of information management, there is no need to arrange design and engineering processes in a hierarchical way. This obviously offers, e.g. the possibilities to employ the knowledge of downstream processes early in the product life cycle. As a first example, this is illustrated by including the possible procedures during feature identification in sheet metal. It is shown that the possibilities of feature identification are expanded and that it can be performed in a more structured way. Besides, it is shown that the processes in the manufacturing cycle can surpass their basic tasks and that, e.g. process planning can contribute to the actual generation of geometry. Indisputably, much effort will be required in advancing the establishment of the function blocks in the architectures and their mutual interaction. Moreover, the conversion of these architectures into a prototype CAPP system will require considerable endeavour.