Automated process planning for the manufacture of sliders

This paper presents a methodology of a computer-aided process planning syst em for an injection mould component, slider, which will facilitate the stan dardisation of process planning and significantly reduce lead-time. A combi nation of generative and variant approach is used for the development of th e system. The input to the system is a 3D slider model. Firstly, the system classifies the slider types and extracts the feature parameters from the m odel. Each slider type refers to a standard process plan template, in which a set of processes in sequence is presented. Secondly, the system selects machines, cutters, fixtures and cutting parameters for each process in the plan template based on the actual dimensions of features and the available machining resources. The process plan execution is then simulated on the sc reen step by step. Although the system is developed for sliders, the approa ch is generic in nature and could be easily extended to include other mould components, such as lifters, mouldbases, etc. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved.