SUMMARY
An innovative approach was developed to solve the problem of setup planning, which is the most critical problem in process planning for discrete metal parts. Setup planning is the act of preparing detailed work instructions for setting up a part. The major objective of this research is to improve the performance of CAPP systems by developing a systematic approach to generate practical setup plans based on tolerance analysis. A comprehensive literature review on tolerance control in CAPP was conducted. It was found that tolerance chart analysis, a traditional tolerance control technique, is reactive in nature and can be greatly improved by solving the problem of setup planning. In order to develop a theoretically sound foundation for tolerance analysis-based setup planning, the problem of tolerance stack up in NC machining was analyzed in terms of manufacturing error analysis. Guidelines for setup planning were then developed based on the analysis. To systematically solve the setup planning problem, a graph theoretical setup planning algorithm for rotational parts was then developed for automated and integrated setup planning and fixture design. Its efficiency and effectiveness evaluated. The result is promising. The algorithms were then computerized. A setup planning program was developed under the Microsoft Windows environment using C.