Uncertainty management in process planning for PCB assembly

Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) systems are an ideal application for expert system (ES) techniques in manufacturing. The design of a prototype CAPP system that can deal with the uncertainty that is an integral part of every manufacturing facility is described. The implementation of a nonmonotonic reasoning system (NMRS) and an educated-guess mechanism are discussed. In this case, the example is a printed circuit board (PCB) assembly. The uses of uncertainty management techniques in dealing with the dynamic and uncertain nature of a PCB manufacturing facility are considered.<
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