Application of object-oriented framework on manufacturing domain

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address the capture and documentation of essential design for manufacture (DFM) pieces of information to make design decisions. Essential manufacturing information is that which can affect the fulfilment of functional requirements and product constraints. The hierarchical structure of the main components for the open architecture-process planning model (PPM), manufacturing activity model (MAM) and manufacturing resource model (MRM) are discussed The aim of the approach is to define manufacturing knowledge structures and develop a knowledge-based application for DFM. Design/methodology/approach - This work addresses the capture and documentation of essential DFM pieces of information to make design decisions. Essential manufacturing information is that which can affect the fulfilment of functional requirements and product constraints. The hierarchical structure of the main components for the open architecture-PPM, MAM and MRM are discussed. The aim of the approach is to define manufacturing knowledge structures and develop a knowledge-based application for DFM. Findings - This paper gives details of the application framework development by integrating object-oriented technology and component-based development. This will help to achieve large-scale software reuse for manufacturing application development projects. This paper also gives an overview of a computer system for automated concurrent engineering, and more particularly, to a method for the concurrent design of parts, tools and processes. Originality/value - The workability of this approach was tested in a machine-tool manufacturing firm and the same has been presented as a case.