VISION AND RESEARCH OF COMPUTER-AIDED PROCESS PLANNING (CAPP) WITH A KNOWLEDGE BASE FOR MACHINING

This paper presents probable developments in CAPP systems with a knowledge base, in light of the increasing necessity of CAPP for manufacturing systems in the future. It introduces cases of applications in industry, then surveys recent Japanese research on CAPP with a knowledge base from four perspectives: (1) CAD/CAM interface, (2) furnishing CAPP with additional functions, (3) knowledge database and knowledge representation, and (4) research and development of specialized CAPP systems (expert systems). In the last section, the paper describes two directions in which research is heading at present: (1) developing CAPP with a knowledge base suitable for IMS (intelligent manufacturing systems), and (2) further analyzing thinking processes of experienced process planners.