E-CAFFS: an expert computer-aided flexible fixturing system
Computers and Industrial Engineering
Advances in Engineering Software - Special issue: computer-aided process planning
Application of a blackboard framework to a cooperative fixture design system
Computers in Industry - special issue ASI'94 selection of papers presented at the advanced summer institute “computer integrated manufacturing and industrial automation” Patras, Greece, 26 June—1 July 1994
Automated modular fixture planning based on linkage mechanism theory
Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing
Hybrid feature recognition method for setup planning from STEP AP-203
Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing
Case based reasoning method for computer aided welding fixture design
Computer-Aided Design
Intelligent feature based process planning for five-axis mill-turn parts
Computers in Industry
Machining fixture locating and clamping position optimization using genetic algorithms
Computers in Industry
A desktop virtual reality-based interactive modular fixture configuration design system
Computer-Aided Design
Hi-index | 0.01 |
A key characteristic of the modern market place is the consumer demand for variety. To respond effectively to this demand, manufacturers need to ensure that their manufacturing practices are sufficiently flexible to allow them to achieve rapid product development. Fixturing, which involves using fixtures to secure workpieces during machining so that they can be transformed into parts that meet required design specifications, is a significant contributing factor towards achieving manufacturing flexibility. To enable flexible fixturing, considerable levels of research effort have been devoted to supporting the process of fixture design through the development of computer-aided fixture design (CAFD) tools and approaches. This paper contains a review of these research efforts. Over seventy-five CAFD tools and approaches are reviewed in terms of the fixture design phases they support and the underlying technology upon which they are based. The primary conclusion of the review is that while significant advances have been made in supporting fixture design, there are primarily two research issues that require further effort. The first of these is that current CAFD research is segmented in nature and there remains a need to provide more cohesive fixture design support. Secondly, a greater focus is required on supporting the detailed design of a fixture's physical structure.