CAPP framework system for concurrent engineering

Difficulty in generalizing and lack of adaptability are important factors that hamper a computer aided process planning (CAPP) system from being popular and practical. New manufacturing philosophies such as Concurrent Engineering require special characteristic of a CAPP system. Proposed in this paper is a CAPP framework system for Concurrent Engineering (CAPPFS-CE) which can meet the requirements of Concurrent Engineering and whose information models, function models and decision logic can be customized by users to form various CAPP applicati on systems. Its function requirements are discussed broadly. An architecture for CAPPFS CE is presented. It is based on abstract information models (AIMs) and abstract function models (AFMs). The kernel is formed by customization interpretation, internal process control and decision engine. A new information modeling and system development method, information element method (IEM), is introduced to build up AIMs, decision engine, and AFMs and then realize a CAPPFS CE THCAPP-SHELL, a CAPPFS-CE developed by IEM, is demonstrated. A CAPP system produced by customizing THCAPP SHELL for complex structural parts in a concurrent engineering environment is shown