Tool selection and rationalisation

Abstract

The work presented in this thesis is concerned with the selection of tooling and operating conditions for turning, and the subsequent rationalisation of these tooling and operating conditions. There are five main levels of tool selection namely; operation, component, machine, mulit-batch, and shop floor and tool store. Each level is analysed using different manufacturing paradigms and taking into consideration various objectives of tool selection. Detail work is presented apropos of tool selection at the operation and component levels with proposals on how the other levels will form part of the overall selection systems. The concept of Tool Resource Structure is presented and proposals on how it should be an integral part of any Manufacturing Planning and Control system. Various methods and a computer based system were developed for tool selection and rationalisation. These include; a geometry and heuristic module for selection at the operation level, a technology module that further optimises the tooling and cutting conditions, and a component module that performs rationalisation at the component level. A number of examples are presented to describe the functionality of the tool selection and rationalisation system. The results of the computer based testing of the software were encouraging.