Survey of Computer-Aided Process Planning Systems

Summary The present survey is intended to give a comprehensive picture of the actual knowledge 1n the field of computer-aided process planning systems. In a first part, a methodic analysis of the process planning function 1s carried out on the basis of a typical example. Possible areas of computer utilization are identified and problems in computer Introduction are analyzed. In a second part, a systematic review of typical existing systems is performed with an effort to classify systems according to their basic characteristics. Some examples of interesting outputs obtained with the help of computer-aided process planning are reviewed in more details.