A grammar-based approach to capturing and managing processes: An industrial case study

A grammar-based framework was developed to capture and reconfigure design and manufacturing processes. In order to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this grammar-based approach, we have embarked on an extensive industrial case study at Focus:HOPE in Detroit, Michigan. This paper reports our preliminary findings on modeling the processes for making a variety of pulleys produced for automotive companies. These pulleys are mostly service components used to maintain old vehicles and many types of pulleys are manufactured, in limited production volumes, with the occasional introduction of new pulleys. This circumstance creates incentives to capture and archive process information as the archived processes can be retrieved and modified when a new pulley is introduced.