Review of Computer-Aided Process Planning Systems for Machining Operation – Future Development of a Computer-Aided Process Planning System –

The need to integrate the design and machining stages has become an important issue since the introduction of the Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) concept. The development of the Computer-Aided Process Planning (CAPP) system has been recognized to have made a significant contribution toward fulfilling the requirement for an integrated planning system. This paper reviews the development of the CAPP system, particularly for the metal removal process. Previous reviews on CAPP are gathered and discussed to show the evolution stage of CAPP in general. Main research topics that contribute to the CAPP system development are shown. Six elements of the CAPP system are identified as the most important tasks in generating a process plan. These elements consist of: (1) model convention, (2) manufacturing operation selection, (3) manufacturing resource selection, (4) cutting condition selection, (5) tool path selection, and (6) setup selection. Six elements for the development of CAPP that contribute to process planning for metal removal process are discussed. The evolution stages of each element easily show the involvement of several tools in order to support the corresponding element. For further guidance, the methods of comprehending the involvement of manufacturing information in CAPP are discussed. Knowledge structuring and logic reasoning are the main organizational steps that can be used to describe the CAPP data architecture of manufacturing information. Further, the examples of full-scale CAPP in actualizing machining process planning are presented. Finally, key technologies for future development of CAPP are discussed.