Operation sequencing in a feature-based flexible process planning system

摘要

Our research puts its goal the generation of a computer-aided process planning (CAPP) system for machining process that can manage the dynamic changings in the production stage. In order to make this goal to realization, we develop a feature-based process planning system that can generate multiple process plans of a part. The generation of multiple process plans of a part is intended to provide alternative plans in the determination of optimal sets of process plans for all the part types in the shop. The architecture of our proposed process planning system is presented. This process planning system is divided into 3 phases: feature recognition, setup generation and operation sequencing. The methods for the first two phases have been proposed. In this paper, we present our proposed method for operation sequencing phase. In this operation sequencing phase, we determine the machining sequence of interacting features in each setup, the sequence of the overall features in each setup, and the sequence of machining all the setups. The focus of this paper is to describe our proposed method to determine the machining sequence of interacting features in each setup. To determine the machining sequence, interacting features require special consideration since precedence constraints exist in the machining sequencing of interacting features. In our research, we also use feature interaction factor to generate alternative process. A method to generate alternative process and to determine machining sequencing for interacting features in a setup is proposed in this paper.