Casting Process Planning Using Case Based Reasoning

We present an innovative approach to casting process planning based on case-based reasoning. Process planning involves deciding the methods, materials and machines for various steps in manufacturing. It is an important activity that affects product cost and quality, and requires experience. Such experience can be stored using a knowledge management system, then retrieved and modified for a new casting that is similar to a previous one (generative process planning). For entirely new castings, process plans are generated interactively by selecting the most appropriate options from a library, and become part of the case-base. A system has been developed to demonstrate both generative and variant process planning for castings, and has been implemented in a web-based virtual foundry environment using XML (eXtensible Markup Language). This will help in interaction between product designer, tooling engineer and foundry engineer at the early design stages enabling early prediction and prevention of manufacturing problems associated with the design.