Development of a Message Model to Support Integrated Design and Manufacturing

Venkat Allada, University of Missouri-Rolla
National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Steven R. Ray, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Abstract

Mere sharing of information between engineering design systems and manufacturing systems does not represent an ideal integrated system. While information sharing represents an important aspect of an integrated design and manufacturing environment, an equally critical aspect is the "interaction" capability of the two systems. This interaction could be in the form of feedback and request messages between the design and manufacturing systems. The goal of this study is to investigate the issues involved in the development of a conceptual message model that will facilitate an "upstream" and a "downstream" communication between the design activities and process planning activities. The development of a message model is an attempt to capture the design/process planner dialogue in a computer representable and interpretable form.