A CASTABILITY EXPERT-SYSTEM

The castability analysis of a part, its cost estimation and preparation of competitive quotations typically requires years of experience, is time consuming and is dependent on the expert personnel available. Considerable amount of personnel time is also involved in preparing these quotations. An expert system is ideally suited for this application as it can automate the castability analysis and the quotation preparation process. This will no only substantially improve productivity and consistency, but also the accuracy of the process. This paper describes the development and implementation of an expert system for a typical medium sized company, which receives approximately thousand requests for quotations every year. A Castability Expert System apart from reducing time and increasing accuracy, will enable people with little experience to analyze the part, estimate cost and prepare quotations without the assistance of an expert, whose time can be better utilized in other areas.