Chapter III Process Technology

The planning and performance evaluation of various manufacturing processes constitute the theme of the third chapter. The first paper discusses research efforts aimed at the development of interfaces for the smooth transition of information from automated design to the Computer-Aided Process Planning (CAPP) system and then directly to the automated shop floor equipment. The next paper reports on the application of nonlinear goal programming to electrical discharge machining of ceramic composites, implementing a modified search technique to obtain optimal operating conditions. The third paper presents basic concepts of expert systems and then illustrates them with the prototype expert system aiding the designer of a metal-forming process of axisymmetric bars with simple extrusion. The fourth paper presents a CAPP system for generating optimal process plans for robotic assembly which uses a feature data base and a connectivity data base to generate feasible assembly sequences, which results in robot arm trajectory plans. The automated assembly of printed circuit boards is considered in the fifth paper. The author provides an analysis of the combined effects of angular and linear errors on successful part registration during assembly.