The paper presents results of a study-on collecting machining strategi
es for machining assistants and process planning. These efforts are be
ing conducted at the NMSU-Integrated Manufacturing Systems Laboratory
(IMSL). Goals of the project aim at improving and advancing the solici
tation, documentation, and automation of machining knowledge/data acqu
isition, and integration with CAD/CAM/CAE systems. This paper emphasiz
es the knowledge acquisition phase of the study utilizing artificial n
eural networks.