Integration of machining and inspection

Fully automated machining would require automatic inspection process planning and real–time inspection result feedback. As inspection process planning is still based on G&M codes containing low level information or vendor–specific bespoke routines, inspection process planning is mostly isolated from machining process planning. With the development of new data model standards such as STEP and STEP–NC providing high level product information for the entire manufacturing chain, it is conceivable that both machining and inspection process planning are considered hand–in–hand to generate optimal machining and inspection sequences with real–time measurement result feedback. This paper introduces an integrated process planning system architecture for combined machining and inspection. On–machine inspection (OMI) is chosen to carry out inspection operations in–between machining operations and to provide real–time feedback to process planning. The system is able to automatically insert OMI operations for online measurement. A case study testified the feasibility of the proposed architecture.