ONLINE INTEGRATION OF A PROCESS PLANNING MODULE WITH PRODUCTION SCHEDULING

An approach to the on-line integration of process planning and product ion scheduling is reported. Based on a geometric modeller, a geometric analyser and a knowledge base, the process planner generates alternat ive process plans and provides automatic tool selection and calculatio n of the appropriate machining parameters. Time and cost estimations a re input to the decision-making module in the production scheduling sy stem that produces optimal scheduling decisions as well as a complete record of the actual state of the factory resources. An information fl ow, designed as a relational data model, maintains the interaction bet ween the process planning and the production scheduling systems and pr ovides the dynamic feedback to the process planner. Specific geometry features of the blank, the finished part and the cutting tools, and ge ometry features-based rules are stored in the database of a developed CAPP system by using a separate CAD interface. The integrated producti on planning and production scheduling system and the CAPP system were validated with rotational parts machining.