Paper published in CIRP Annals – Manufacturing Technology 2008.
The CAMA system aims to capture, store, retrieve and applying diverse DFX “know how” in a structured manner by:
- Creating a structured mechanism for capturing the interactions between the designer and the knowledgeable business roles (e.g. process planner, manufacturer, purchaser, QC).
- Enabling classification, storage and programming of valuable KID (rules) in a coherent manner that enables knowledge capitalization (e.g. a structured organizational learning process and continual knowledge evaluation and updating).
- Incorporating an intelligent component into the designer’s environment to evaluate product model conformity to a selected design methodology, based on the knowledge captured in the system.
Implementing these capabilities ensures that the knowledge captured in the system does not become stagnant as industry evolves. It also guarantees that core knowledge is not lost when expert workers leave the company as well as providing efficient transfer of knowledge to new workers.
CAMA system consists of three main modules:
Feedback Module
Operates as an on-line GUI for collecting feedback from various interactions between the design environment and the supporting internal/external units, such as manufacturing, purchasing, maintenance and marketing.
Rule Builder Module
The CAMA Rule Builder is an interactive module for expanding and modifying the underlying CAMA rule-base. The rulebuilder incorporates three utilities:
- a tool for creating a structured feedback database
- a learning facilitator
- a rulebuilder facilitator
Analyzer Module
Solidworks; Creo; Autodesk Inventor
An inline capability, embedded to the CAD tool, for analyzing CAD models based on the rule-base. A separate plug-in for each CAD tool (Solidworks, Creo and Autodesk Inventor) has been developed.