AN APPROACH TO CONCURRENT ENGINEERING

This paper presents a new approach to concurrent engineering, focusing on simultaneous product design and process planning. The key elements in this approach are (a) a framework for structuring manufacturing in formation and maximizing the information-carrying capacity of the desi gn models, (b) a procedure for intelligently mapping form features on to pertinent manufacturing considerations and (c) a procedure for util izing the available manufacturing information about components already machined within the given manufacturing environment. The proposed app roach provides a natural way for conveying manufacturing information t o the designer. Its distinguishing feature is the application of a wid e range of artificial intelligence techniques for knowledge acquisitio n and deductive reasoning.