Design and manufacturing is the essential element in any product development lifecycle. Industry vendors and users have been seeking a common language to be used for the entire product development lifecycle that can describe design, manufacturing and other data pertaining to the product. Many solutions were proposed, the most successful being the Stadndard for Exchange of Product model (STEP). STEP provides a mechanism that is capable of describing product data, independent from any particular system. The nature of this description makes it suitable not only for neutral file exchange, but also as a basis for implementing, sharing and archiving product databases. ISO 10303-AP203 is the first and perhaps the most successful AP developed to exchange design data between different CAD systems. Going from geometric data (as in AP203) to features (as in AP224) represents an important step towards having the right type of data in a STEP-based CAD/CAM system. Of particular significance is the publication of STEP-NC, as an extension of STEP to NC, utilising feature-based concepts for CNC machining purposes. The aim of this book is to provide a snapshot of the recent research outcomes and implementation cases in the field of design and manufacturing where STEP is used as the primary data representation protocol. The 20 chapters are contributed by authors from most of the top research teams in the world. These research teams are based in national research institutes, industries as well as universities.

Efficient management of product information is vital for manufacturing enterprises in this information age. Considering the proliferation of product information, tight production schedules, and intense market competition, human intelligence alone cannot meet the requirements of efficient product development. Technologies and tools that support information management are urgently needed. This volume presents the design reuse methodology to support product development. Significant efforts have been made to create an intelligent and optimal design environment by incorporating the contemporary technologies in product family design, artificial intelligence, neural networks, information theories, etc. This volume covers both theoretical topics and implementation strategies, with detailed case studies to help readers gain an insight in areas such as product information modeling, information analysis, engineering optimization, production cost estimation, and product performance evaluation.

With the rapid advances in computing and Internet technologies, an integrated and collaborative environment, which is based on the complementary functions of concurrent engineering and Internet-based collaborative engineering, is imperative for companies to facilitate and expedite the product realization processes. Topics such as concurrent and collaborative engineering, feature-based design and manufacturing, evolutionary computational techniques such as Tabu Search, Simulated Annealing, Genetic Algorithms features, intelligent and computer-aided process planning are important strategies and enabling technologies for developing an integrative environment, facilitating modern product design and development. This book covers the state-of-the-art research and development status of these strategies and technologies. Implementation strategies and case studies are provided with an emphasis on technical details to help readers understand the underlying algorithms and infrastructures.

Fixtures are an essential part of manufacturing production. This book covers computer-aided fixture design, fixture clamping synthesis and optimisation, workpiece-fixture interaction, intelligent fixture designed to integrate with processing equipment or machine tools so as to improve productivity and product quality, Internet-enabled fixture design and modular fixture database management. These are the emerging issues central to the development of computer-integrated manufacturing.Covering the established knowledge of fixture design automation and the niche areas of fixture system integration and Internet-enabled design, the book would be a prevalent reference for academics, manufacturing & industrial engineers, and a valuable text for engineering graduate students.

Fixtures are crucial to new manufacturing techniques and largely dictate the level of flexibility a manufacturing system can achieve. Advanced Fixture Design for FMS provides a systematic basis for the selection and design of fixturing systems. It gives a review of the current state of the art of flexible and reconfigurable fixturing systems. Recent developments in design methodology using CAD are analysed in depth. Fixture design is seen as an inseparable part of process planning. The primary objective of a fixture system is to ensure that the part being manufactured can be made consistently within the tolerance specified in the design. A new method of tolerance analysis is used to check the suitability of location surfaces and the sequence of operations and is explained in detail.