Introduction to Process Planning

Summary

This chapter introduces the fundamentals of manufacturing process planning, emphasizing its critical role in optimizing production for cost efficiency and high‐quality outputs. It explores the integration of process planning within the product development cycle, focusing on communication between design and manufacturing departments to streamline production. The benefits of concurrent engineering versus sequential engineering are highlighted, and all activities required for efficient process planning are briefly overviewed. The chapter concludes with an overview of computer‐aided process planning systems, detailing the differences between variant and generative approaches.