Computer aided manufacturability analysis: Closing the knowledge gap between the designer and the manufacturer

Manufacturing today is marked by increased competition and dispersed global organization, thus necessitating enhanced collaboration among designers and manufacturers. Nevertheless, while Design for Manufacturability (DFM) has been the subject of in-depth research over the past decades, the supporting software solutions have not as yet matured. In this paper we present a holistic approach and supporting software tool, termed the Computer Aided Manufacturability Analysis (CAMA) tool, for capitalizing on available manufacturability knowledge. This is achieved by closing the knowledge loop between the design and manufacturing environments. CAMA captures the knowledge in a structured manner and incorporates this knowledge within the product design tools (CAD systems), thus enabling improved product timeliness and profitability. CAMA represents proof of concept and constitutes a demonstrative prototype of an adaptive and open DFX tool. It is based on industrial surveys of the Knowledge, Information and Data (KID) flows in CAD, CAPP and CAM processes within the manufacturing outsourcing environment. CAMA differs from other approaches in that it is an open system that enables continuous and intuitive capture, modification and implementation of updated manufacturability KID.