Integrated Computer-Aided Manufacturing Systems Design

Abstract

This paper reports the development of an open and integrated decision support framework for Computer-Aided Manufacturing Systems Design, known as I/O-CAMSD. Up to date there have been a number of computer-aided tools, such as modelling and simulation, to help manufacturing system designers. However, the challenge is to produce a practical, integrated system which should be capable of firstly supporting the major MSD (manufacturing systems design) tasks, and then co-ordinating the individual tools so as to provide more powerful decision support than any of these on their own. The work reported here presents a new, task-centred approach for the integration of MSD tools and data, providing a general mechanism for task/tool/data integration and allowing for its focused evolution and application within specific MSD domain. The system's main features are described in this paper. Its initial validation within industrial companies are also discussed.