Software Development Tools to Automate CAD/CAM Systems

Abstract

In today's modern manufacturing, software automation is crucial element for leveraging novel methodologies and integrate various engineering software environments such Computer aided design (CAD), Computer aided process planning (CAPP), or Computer aided manufacturing (CAM) with programming modules with a common and a comprehensive interface; thus creating solutions to cope with repetitive tasks or allow argument passing for data exchange. This chapter discusses several approaches concerning engineering software automation and customization by employing programming methods. The main focus is given to design, process planning and manufacturing since these phases are of paramount importance when it comes to product lifecycle management. For this reason, case studies concerning software automation and problem definition for the aforementioned platforms are presented mentioning the benefits of programming when guided by successful computational thinking and problem mapping.