A KNOWLEDGE-BASED AUTOMATED PROCESS PLANNING SYSTEM (KAPPS) WITH ASSUMPTION-BASED TRUTH MAINTENANCE SYSTEM AND GEOMETRIC

THE GOAL OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY LOOKING TO THE FIERCE COMPETITION OF THE NEXT DECADE IS TO MANUFACTURE PRODUCTS (1) AT REDUCED COSTS, (2) WITH SHORTER LEAD TIMES, AND (3) AT A HIGHER QUALITY. COMPONENTS THAT WOULD ASSIST IN ACHIEVING THIS GOAL INCLUDE (1) AUTOMATED PROCESS PLANNING, (2) DESIGN RETRIEVAL, AND (3) PRODUCIBILITY/VALUE ANALYSIS. NEEDED TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGHS FOR EFFECTIVE COMPUTER-AIDED PROCESS PLANNING (CAPP) SYSTEMS INCLUDE: (1) INCORPORATION OF POWERFUL GEOMETRIC REASONING CAPABILITIES, (2) INTEGRATION WITH COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN (CAD) AND OTHER ENGINEERING PRODUCT DEFINITION DATABASES, FACTORY MANAGEMENT/CONTROL SYSTEMS, AND COMPUTER AIDED MANUFACTURING (CAM) SYSTEMS, AND (3) DEVELOPMENT OF ROBUST KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION STRUCTURES AND REASONING STRATEGIES. AI-BASED EXPERT SYSTEMS HAVE PROVEN TO BE THE MOST PROMISING APPROACH TO SOLVE THE PROCESS PLANNING PROBLEM. WE PROPOSE A KNOWLEDGE-BASED AUTOMATED PROCESS PLANNING SYSTEM (KAPPS) THAT WILL ELIMINATE THE DEFICIENCIES OF CURRENT CAPP SYSTEMS AND BE ABLE TO CAPTURE, REPRESENT, ORGANIZE, AND UTILIZE MANUFACTURING KNOWLEDGE. WE WILL INTEGRATE THE RESULTS OF PREVIOUS AND ONGOING KBSI DEVELOPMENT AND UNIVERSITY RESEARCH IN (1) SHAPE-BASED KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION, (2) INFORMATION INTEGRATION MECHANISMS, (3) GEOMETRIC REASONING, (4) ADVANCED OBJECT REPRESENTATION AND REASONING METHODS, AND (5) CONCURRENT ENGINEERING TOOLS TO ACHIEVE A COMMERCIALLY VIABLE, TRULY GENERATIVE PROCESS PLANNING SYSTEM. THE PRODUCT OF THE RESEARCH IS A COMMERCIALLY VIABLE, TRULY GENERATIVE WORKSTATION-BASED PROCESS PLANNING SYSTEM.