Knowledge-based CAD system for protective packaging design

Abstract

Protective packaging buffer design is a complex process which involves manipulating both analytical and graphical data, and expert knowledge. The design activities of this process can be represented as a series of procedural tasks, and it is therefore suitable for design automation efforts. Currently, the design activities of the protective packaging buffers are predominantly manual and done on a trial and error basis. In this paper, PROPACK, a knowledge-based CAD system which has been developed to automate this design process will be discussed. A description of how the knowledge and information in PROPACK are structured and stored in the database will also be made. Preliminary tests have found that PROPACK is able to generate possible design solutions that either require external or simple internal cushioning features used for protection. These results have found to compare quite favourably with the BASF worked examples.