Knowledge formalization for product–process integration applied to forging domain

Efficient and effective forging process selection for a given set of product characteristics and requirements is a multicriterion problem strongly influenced by interdependent factors like product complexity, design requirements, product quality, resource availability, and cost. These factors are formalized based on the information provided regarding the role and experiences of experts in product–process design; however, design representation is considered as a network of product and process parameters and expert’s knowledge as a set of constraints applied on the parametric network. This paper proposes an integrated product–process approach to evaluate its consistency and is useful in selecting suitable forging process and product design parameters. Computer support tool has been developed to present and to integrate the product parameters, the process characteristics, and the expert’s knowledge related to forging domain to select an appropriate forging process evaluated through a constraint propagation algorithm. This approach is validated through a case study presented at the end.