Computer-integrated process planning and scheduling (CIPPS): Intelligent support for product design, process planning and control

We develop the architecture and application framework for a computer-integrated process planning and scheduling (CIPPS) system with the following objectives: (1) recognize the features of a product from its description provided by a CAD system; (2) identify the sets of features for which production must be explicitly planned; (3) determine an efficient and feasible process plan to manufacture a product; (4) generate an efficient and feasible cyclic production schedule from the process plan; (5) provide the design and manufacturing engineers with the necessary planning/scheduling feedback information during the design evaluation process and ensure that the product can be manufactured in a cost-effective manner; (6) equip each module of the system with intelligent capabilities to react to random shopfloor disturbances as well as planned production changes; and (7) seamlessly integrate CIPPS with other automation processes and systems within the framework of a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) environment. The CIPPS system consists of four specific modules for automated feature recognition, the determination of minimal cover sets of all features of a product, the determination of an efficient and feasible process plan, and the generation of an efficient and feasible cyclic production schedule, respectively. The proposed system framework provides dynamic support for design decisions (DSDD), runtime intelligent operational control (IOC), and data consolidation and integration (DCI). While the modules specifically address objectives (1)–(4) above, the system framework addresses objectives (5)–(7). The DSDD mode supports decisions during the design process, the IOC mode facilitates automatic intelligent shopfloor management when changes occur in the environment, and the DCI mode facilitates interfacing and integrating CIPPS with other functions in a manufacturing environment.