OPTIMUM CONVENTIONAL COMPUTER-AIDED PROCESS PLANNING

The paper presents an optimum computer aided process planning program which is developed for the Aluminum Company of Egypt. It is concerned with process sheet generation in the AutoCAD environment for particula r operations on any machine tool without restriction on the number of machines used or the type of machine at any given instant. All needed machines, tools and materials are imbedded in the program. The program includes all the necessary operations that can be carried out on the Turning, Boring and Milling machines. The program minimizes user inter action by using expert defaults, menus, and dialog boxes. The defaults are calculated optimum values of speed (rpm), feed and depth of cut f or maximum power utilization in roughing and optimum attainment of sur face finish and minimum time of operation. The results of the program indicate a saving of 20 to 50 percent in total time of production.