PRISM - A EUREKA COLLABORATIVE PROJECT TO IMPROVE THE PRODUCTION OF SHEET METAL PRODUCTS USING NOVEL CIME TECHNIQUES

H. Merryweather

Radan Computational Ltd, Bath, UK

PRISM is a three nation, 12 organisation collaborative project aimed at improvements in the production of sheet metal products. This 2½ year project is at the halfway stage. Therefore this paper will describe the initial stages of the project where the industrial users requirements have been identified and much of the system specification has taken place. The prototype system will use a finite scheduler (that takes production requirements from existing production planning systems) to schedule selected sheet metal production resources including punching and nibbling machines, profiling machines and press-brakes. An existing CAM system will be enhanced to work closely with the finite scheduler and provide a high degree of automation for CNC programming. A new CAM system will be developed to programme many types of CNC press-brakes.

Keywords : finite scheduling, production planning, punching, profiling, press-brakes, CADCAM