Manufacturing data representation using an object-oriented data model.

An integrated database plays a key role in the development of a Computer Integrated Manufacturing System (CIMS) and a Manufacturing Data Base (MDB) is one of the necessary components of the integrated data base. The MDB needs to have information on part geometry features, operation processes, operating parameters, machine tools, cutting tools, jigs and fixtures. The MDB should also provide capabilities to model, store and manipulate manufacturing data in a manner suitable to the users. The commercial Data Base Management Systems (DBMS) are not widely used in manufacturing application primarily because the conceptual and internal modeling tools that they provide do not meet the requirements of manufacturing users. This research reviewed the status of work done in the manufacturing database area and compared the traditional data models with object-oriented data models. The traditional data models are not suitable for handling manufacturing data due to their limitation and the complexities of manufacturing data. Complex data type, complex object and complex relationship resulted from the manufacturing data analysis. An enhanced object-oriented data model was also derived from the data analysis. A conceptual data schema was designed for the purpose of manufacturing data representation, in which the structure and constraints of manufacturing data were analyzed in detail. A prototype object language was defined and implemented in C programming language. A prototype system was realized by LASER, a knowledge representation tool to test the suitability of the application of object-oriented data model in manufacturing. This research bridged the gap between manufacturing data and database management system, which can benefit many other engineering systems, especially the expert system development for process planning, and machining parameter selection. If a CIMS database and an integrated computing environment is developed, the benefits of manufacturing database will be immense