INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR SELECTION OF MACHINING EQUIPMENT IN CIM

The requirements for increased responsiveness to market and the demand s for shorter product introduction times underline the need for a cohe rent formal approach towards equipment selection to support the knowle dge and experience of the engineers entrusted with this important task . With the increasing complexity of the decision making in manufacturi ng system design, the search for the right structure depends upon the capability of the designers to compare different solutions using commo n approaches in an integrated decision making environment. The paper p resents an integrated framework for selection of machining equipment w hich utilises both 'product' and 'process' based principles of manufac turing system formation. The decision making is defined as a sequence of steps for transforming component design information into processing requirements which are mapped into physical machines organized in pro cessing systems. The methodology includes a work content analysis modu le for selection and optimization of technological solutions; a compon ent and process grouping module for definition of system capability bo undaries and a module for specification of machine tools. The selectio n procedures are supported by process capability and component data mo dels providing a homogeneous decision making environment.