Small Grant for Exploratory Research: Technology ConstrainedProcess Planning

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Manufacturers of discrete products have not yet made full use of the power of the computer to improve their performance. In particular, most manufacturers use linear process plans that are based upon the planner's estimate of which machine will be "the best" at the time when the work pieces are produced. This imposes unnecessary constraints on the process plan and the machine type choice is made without current knowledge of the system's status. Both have the potential to reduce the system efficiency/effectiveness by restricting the system manager's domain of alternatives for dispatching and processing the workload (scheduling and control). The long term goal of Technology Constrained Process Planning (TCOPP) is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of discrete manufacturing through improved processing planning, scheduling, and control. This will be accomplished through 1) the specification of process plans as directed graphs, based upon technological constraints; and 2) functional specification of the process plan, rather than a specific class of work station. The result will be an increase in the degrees of freedom available for scheduling and controlling the production of the workload. Resource assignments will be based upon current system status. The expanded domain of alternatives and use of current system status can reasonably be expected to improve decision making and system efficiency/effectiveness.