Process and quality planning are prerequisites for the production of qualified products at competitive cost. Today´s document-based work methods are not effective as valuable time is spent on document creation and document management instead of being spent on innovation and process improvements. Information duplication is an inevitable consequence with current document-based work methods where the same information is described in different ways, at many places, across many different documents. This paper presents a model-driven approach where vital manufacturing information is described once, at one place, and in one way, enabling improved work methods for cross-organizational process and quality planning.

Process planning is the activity of determining the manufacturing operations needed to produce a product. The knowledge work of process planning has been thoroughly investigated. Several ideas to automate process planning have been proposed but their success in practice has not yet been realized. Little attention has been given to design as an inevitable element in process planning and the role of human expertise in process design. From the premise that competent planners are a primary source of productivity this paper discusses process design, the role of human expertise and how CAPP systems could support human decision making.

Besides decisions in design, decisions made in process planning determine the conditions for manufacturing the right quality. Hence systematic process planning is a key enabler for robust product realization from design through manufacturing. Current work methods for process planning and quality assurance lack efficient system integration. As a consequence companies spend unnecessary lot of non-value adding time on managing quality. This paper presents a novel model-based approach to integrate process planning and quality assurance. The presented model enables a more efficient and holistic way for managing quality from design to manufacturing. New possibilities to communicate process design intent and present important quality assurance information in a more structured and comprehensive way is also enabled.

Industry needs integration of product specific terminology and product generic data schemas for man-model interaction and data exchange in next generation of CADCAM systems to improve product realization. The use of engineering terminology in a geometric context to represent design parameters as functional features, kinematic requirements, and GD&T, is presented. This will give new possibilities for increased productivity in design and manufacturing. The main principle of relating data to its valid context is applied to reduce information fragmentation causing data duplication and comprehensive data management and maintenance. The solution is illustrated for modelling truck chassis and cutting tools.

Systematic process planning is a key enabler for robust product realization from design through manufacturing. Every process and operation must be designed in the best possible way to ensure that the overall process chain leads to the right product quality. During the last two decades a shift from inspection of manufactured products to a more holistic approach with quality assurance as an integrated activity throughout the product realization process has emerged in manufacturing industry. The importance of the principles addressed in the methods and tools used in automotive industry for quality management is indisputable. However, the tasks of creating and managing documents for Process Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (PFMEA), Control plans, Initial process studies and Measurement System Analysis (MSA) results in high workload. Also, lack of interoperability between different computer applications used in process planning and quality assurance results in information fragmentation, data duplication and potential data inconsistency. This paper proposes a novel, model driven approach for process planning integrating quality assurance which emphasizes the application of digital models to create, represent and use information of products, processes and resources. By reducing the amount of data and document duplication, the presented model driven approach has potential to radically increase the direct value adding part of manufacturing engineer's daily work also contributing to achieve a more holistic view in interdisciplinary work between different experts in product realization.

Today, for development of product and production, computer-aided design and manufacturing (CADCAM) maintain a significant role in interaction activities between human and computers. The major objective of computer-aided technology is to simplify engineer's work in collecting, using, and sharing information so that human can maximize the usage of their unique abilities, e.g. creativity and innovation. User experiences (UX) will substantially determine outcomes of such intellectual engineering activities during human computer interaction (HCI) with the CADCAM systems. Usability is a key feature of software ergonomic, and has been standardized as an important property of software quality. Concerns for usability of all kinds of ordinary software interface have been expressed by a lot of studies. Evaluation is always a central activity when practicing usability in an iterative product development process. It can be expected that employment of usability evaluation for CADCAM will be highly valued towards a better level of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Nevertheless, researches involving usability in this particular domain are very rare. This paper reviews a limited number of publications with such concerns and investigates the current context of use of CADCAM software. Then existing evaluation techniques are introduced and discussed for their feasibility in manufacturing industry based on previous studies.

The basics of kinematic modelling in CAD applications are to define motion constraints for components relative to other components for the purpose of motion studies. The main concepts are links and joints with information about degree of freedom, actuation and motion range which combined build the topology and geometry to characterise a mechanism. For translating design intent into motion requirements more accurate modelling of the mechanism is needed, including tolerances on error motion in addition to tolerances on functional surfaces. This paper identifies existing limitations and new possibilities for model based kinematical product specification and verification.

Process planning is a central, knowledge extensive and important activityin a manufacturing company. During process planning, countless decisions are made,many times based upon the process planner´s tacit knowledge, based on years ofexperience. The knowledge gap between the expert and the novice is wide.Narrowing this gap, taking the novice towards becoming expert, is an objective ofeducation. This paper presents a solution for model-based interactive learning ofprocess planning, validated through application in master level productionengineering courses.