The architecture of a knowledge-based process planning system for small scale industriee

The objective of this paper is to describe a knowledge-based system to assist engineers to generate optimum process plans. The knowledge base is defined using a PASCAL-like language and is maintained in the form of PROLOG sentences. The knowledge base may be readily modified by process planners to meet their specific requirements. An inferece engine systematically tries to apply the rules to generate basic process plans. These plans are then optimised by repeated applications of user difined rules. The system is being written in PROLOG.