Intelligent process planning and control framework for the Internet

The use of computers has been growing rapidly in manufacturing since computer technology started to be used in machine controls. However, due to historical reasons, these technologies are isolated and their information cannot be shared. For example, to use the information from the CAD system for machining, a human expert engineer has to interpret the CAD meanings and then enters them into a CAM format. Integration of these manufacturing functions requires a technology break-through in automation of manufacturing technology. This paper describes the development of an integrated web-based CIM environment called J-MOPS which can intelligently transform CAD information into machine programs. The use of Java significantly enhanced the system with the advantages of robustness, object-oriented, network oriented, and platform independence.