Process and Operation Planning

Process planning determines how a product is to be manufactured and is therefore a key element in the manufacturing process. It plays a major part in determining the cost of components and affects all factory activities, company competitiveness, production planning, production efficiency and product quality. This volume concentrates mostly on technological aspects, and attempts to show that process planning, now fully integrated in the manufacturing system, can be regarded as a science by using a logical approach. The described process planning method may be used by manual process planners, or as an algorithm for those who wish to develop a real CAPP program. Three aspects of process planning in the manufacturing system are covered here: the integration of process planning and design; process planning itself; and the integration of process planning and production management. This work should be of interest to engineers, technicians and practitioners and researchers in the field of metal processing and production planning in job shops.