The development and use of a software tool for selecting manufacturing processes at the early stages of design
A.M.K. Esawi and M.F. Ashby
Proceedings of the Third Biennial World Conference on Integrated Design and Process Technology (IDPT)
Berlin, Germany, July 5-9, 1998, Volume 3, pp 210-217
Full Paper  (only available in cam.ac.uk domain)

Abstract
Choosing the right manufacturing process for making a component is an important consideration at the early stages of design. Frequently, the choice of process is based on previous experience or tradition, thereby missing the opportunity to use a new or more suitable process. Lost opportunities could be avoided if the designer had access to a quick efficient selection tool that would guide the selection.

In this paper, a systematic procedure for selecting the optimum process to manufacture a component is described. It is based on comparing the attributes required by the design (required material, size, shape, etc.) with those that lie within the capacity of a large number of processes, seeking the subset which is capable of making the component. The subset is then ranked by economic criteria. To do this, a database containing data on 125 processes was created. The Cambridge Materials Selector (CMS) software is used as the user-interface.

The capabilities and limitations of the Processes Database and the Selection Methodology are described and documented through two case studies. The software is used to suggest a process by which each of two diverse components might be shaped, and the suggestions are compared with the known way in which the component was, in practice, made.