Operation Ordering Principles and Intra-Setup Planner: Combining Human Control With Automation in Process Planning
Abstract We present in this paper 1) operation ordering principles and 2) a customizable process planner, Intra-Setup Planner that implements those principles. The principles and the planner focus on sequencing cutting operations within individual setups for three and five axis prismatic milling applications. There is no general agreement on ordering principles largely because different shops have very different needs. To address a wide range of users’ needs, we have designed both the ordering principles and the Intra-Setup Planner to support flexibility rather than providing a single one-size-fits-all prescription for operation ordering. The Intra-Setup Planner provides a convenient user interface, Rule Editor through which users can select the ordering principles that suit their own situation, an automated planner that will follow the user selected principles, and a Plan Editor to allow final adjustments. The combination of flexible principles and user control maximize the strengths of human and machine intelligence.