Article ID: | iaor20021808 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 30 |
Issue: | 10 |
Start Page Number: | 893 |
End Page Number: | 903 |
Publication Date: | Oct 1998 |
Journal: | IIE Transactions |
Authors: | Zhang C., Feng S.C. |
Keywords: | production |
Current manufacturing planning software systems, such as computer aided process planning (CAPP) systems, are general and in a closed form. It is very difficult to modify these systems to respond to a user's dynamically changing needs. These systems are no longer suitable for agile manufacturing. This paper presents research aimed at developing a novel architecture for the rapid development of CAPP systems. The architecture supports the construction of CAPP systems from prepackaged, plug-compatible software components. Specifications of the architecture and its building blocks are defined. Several important issues in architecture implementation are discussed, and an experimental system is illustrated. Finally, an Internet-based distributed CAPP system architecture is presented as a preview of next generation CAPP system development.