Production Stage

The production Stage occurs when the system is ready for use. Now new components might be planned. An incoming component is coded primary. The code is then input to a part- family search routine to discover the family to which the component belongs. Then the family number is used to retrieve a standard plan. The human planner might modify the standard plan to satisfy the specific component design. For a frequently generated part, it might be desirable to perform seek by direct code matching. In this case, a process plan (not a standard plan) for an existing part is retrieved. Figure 3 depicts stages in the development or operation of a variant process planning system.

Variant process planning is quite similar to manual experience-based planning. However, its information management capabilities are much superior because of the use of computers.

           Figure 3: Part Search and Retrieval