Integration of machining and inspection

Abstract

Fully automated machining would require automatic inspection process planning and real-time inspection result feedback. As inspection process planning is still based on G&M codes containing low-level information or vendor-specific bespoke routines, inspection process planning is mostly isolated from machining process planning. With the development of new data model standards such as STEP and STEP-NC providing high-level product information for the entire manufacturing chain, it is conceivable that both machining and inspection process planning are considered hand-in-hand to generate optimal machining and inspection sequences with real-time measurement result feedback. This paper introduces an integrated process planning system architecture for combined machining and inspection. On-machine inspection (OMI) is chosen to carry out inspection operations in-between machining operations and to provide real-time feedback to process planning. The system is able to automatically insert OMI operations for online measurement. A case study testified the feasibility of the proposed architecture.