Abstract
The conventional design to manufacture cycle time in producing a part can be reduced by eliminating design errors and difficult to machine features before process planning begins. This paper discusses the identification, development and operation of an approach which uses a data base of flexible manufacturing cell capabilities in order to analyze a design for manufacturability. Designs which the cell protocol is unable to produce are rejected, and ways in which a design may be made more producible are suggested to the user. This paper addresses issues, such as material availability, tool availability and the acheivability of tolerance, as they relate to the flexible manufacturing cell which contains a Matsuura 510V CNC machining center, a robot and simulated AGV and fixturing. An important contribution of this work, which is an integral part of the overall system protocol, is the wide variety of manufacturability constraints covered and the convenience of including it in the overall part design and process planning protocol.
