IPPM - A Prototype to Integrate Process Planning and Job Shop Scheduling Functions

Functional integration has taken the foreground in the current manufacturing system development. Process planning and job shop scheduling are two main manufacturing functions involved in shop floor activities. An integrated process planning model (IPPM) is introduced in this paper. The two functions (process planning and job shop scheduling) are truly integrated by means of distributed approach which is different from current nonlinear and alternative process planning approaches. In this paper, the two functions are integrated at task stage, while the nonlinear and alternative approaches are taken place at result stage which cannot be considered as real integration but rather interface. The introduced IPPM works in three levels, based on manufacturing resource availability and real time feedback from shop floor, they are pre-planning, pairing planning, and final planning. The IPPM consists of three modules, introduced in detailed in the paper, they are: process planning module, production scheduling module, and decision making module. An example is provided to illustrate the model. This paper is to be considered as a contribution to the research efforts in process planning and integrated manufacturing.