Research on integration modeling approach for process planning simulation

Process planning is to define the manufacturing process of parts. Usually, a part has more than one solution to be machined under the constraints of part geometry, material, manufacturing resources, etc. In order to find a best manufacturing process for a part, simulation of manufacturing process is often used to evaluate and optimize the process plans. In the paper, an integration modeling approach for manufacturing process defined by process planning is proposed. By this approach, the integration of information, function and process can be realized, so that the manufacturing process can be simulated thoroughly. An integration framework and a two-level model structure are presented first, then the construction of integration element model and the simulation mechanism are discussed, and finally, a case study of the integration modeling is given to demonstrate the modeling approach.