Modelling for process planning: the links between process planning entities

In an integrated design framework, each actor of the design process must ha ve his own view of the product to efficiently participate and co-design. Th e product model used by the process planner is presented here: it is in fac t extracted from the global product model of the whole design system by fil tering. The links of dependence among the different entities of the model - links of availability, accessibility and quality - are particularly emphas ised in this text. Their efficiency has been tested in process planning and product designing. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.