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Discrete part manufacturing flows from a design phase in which product information is defined to a manufacturing phase in which the processes are planned and executed. Process planning typically culminates with the generation of numerical control (NC) programs for specific equipment, such as machining centers or turning centers. These NC programs are written in the dialects of the various equipment vendors, for the specific mechanical configuration of the target machine. As a result, porting programs between machines is difficult. Worse, NC information at run time limits any adaptive control that could direct the process so that final parts more closely conform to the original design.
manufacturing features, numerical control, process planning, STEP
Citation
Proctor, F.
and Kramer, T.
(1998),
A Feature-Based Machining System Using STEP, SPIE series, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=823356
(Accessed October 10, 2025)