Automation in process planning: Findings of a survey by the laboratory of machine tools and production engineering

Efficiency increases in process planning are becoming increasingly important in light of short product life cycles and customer-specific product variants. Therefore, the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University has carried out a survey to identify the need for action. Despite the widespread use of process planning software (CAPP), a major finding of the survey is the need to reduce the configuration effort of the software and the efforts to update the planning basis. © Carl Hanser Verlag, München and Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG.