1995

Jokinen, Harri

The aim of the programme was to develop a concurrent design and planning system that would integrate product design, production planning and the planning of changes to the production systems. This integration was based on a uniform product model describing all product characteristics and a factory model describing all manufacturing resources. The application domains were the engineering industry and the graphic arts industry. Product modelling in the engineering domain was accomplished using features and additional attributes. The functional and manufacturing significance of a feature enables it to be used as a descriptive unit that facilitates integration. This unit is defined in ever greater detail as the design process moves from one stage to the next. The product model was implemented as an application protocol conforming to the STEP standard (ISO 10303). The product description was stored in an object-oriented database, from which links to all the system's computer-aided applications were implemented through a single, common inquiry interface. A particular development effort was made in the process planning of chip-forming machining. The same approach was used in the graphics arts industry application. In that case the work focused on the creation of models and mechanisms allowing progress from the product design of graphic arts products to production planning and cost optimization.The applications were augmented by product data management solutions developed in the programme. A computer-aided method was developed in order to manage the necessary production adaptions caused by changes in products and product range.