Innovative Production Machines and Systems Conference

The modeling module is responsible for setting up the information models of sheet metal parts to be processed. The task of nesting module is to decide the arrangement of the sheet metal parts onto the metal stock-sheet in such a way as to maximize the utilization ratio of the material whilst considering some sheet metal processing requirements. The process-planning module takes responsibility of the cutting/punching process planning and optimization (such as punching tool sequencing and cutting path planning) for the sheet metal parts that have been laid out onto the stock-sheet by the nesting module. The NC-programming module automatically generates the NC codes suitable to the working of the machine tool. The simulation & reporting module is responsible for reporting the expected manufacturing results (such as processing time, manufacturing cost, material consumption and utilization ratio) according to the NC codes, part layout, some relevant processing parameters (e.g. process cost) stored in the machine database etc