Co-operation in design: indicators as supports for the discussion between product and process engineers

Abstract

When designing a product, one needs to consider, as soon as possible, the constraints due to the different manufacturing domains through a co-operative work of the different actors of the design process. The co-operation of the product designer and the process planner aided by indicators of machinability is particularly emphasised in this communication. Therefore the negotiation between the two actors can be effective. Those indicators are not only analysis tools (like simulation) but also synthesis tools (predictive tools that propose new data and knowledge on the current definition of the part). In particular, some piece of geometry can be added to that definition proposed by the indicator. For instance, in the machining field, it can be surfaces able to efficiently fixture the part during machining. A minimal definition of the current part from which the process planner can add constraints due to his expert work is discussed. That definition is, among other things, based on skin and skeleton features.