COMPUTER AIDED PROCESS' PLANNING FOR SHEET METAL COMPONENTS

Abstract

One of the resource utilization problems is the location of two-dimensional patterns onto stock sheets. Stock sheets, in this respect, are depletable resources to be used and the remaining material which is known as scrap can not usually be used later for allocating patterns. Thus a decrease in amount of scrap yields a decrease in the raw material cost. In the solution of the problem usually mock models or templates of the pattern to be cut are placed on a stock sheet and then moved until an arrangement is obtained that appears to yield a minimum amount of scrap. Conventionally, this type of manual solution procedure is used. The problem of achieving optimal arrangements of patterns becomes more complex when it involves large nomenclature of sheet metal parts. The present work is devoted to the development of an algorithm and computer software for computer aided stock layout for rectangular parts. It consists of modules for feature recognition and nesting with appropriate constraints. The efficiency of stock layout is assessed on the basis of scrap percentage. Four heuristics have been proposed in the present work and have been found to be more efficient than the heuristics used till now.