The outline of an integrated system for forging die design and manufacture, based on the use of the principles of group technology to rationalize procedures and form the basis for information systems, is given. Associated with each class of forging is a number of alternative standard processing sequences or workplans. Each work plan has associated data for estimating purposes and design procedures for all dies, including where appropriate computer aided design systems.Some computer aided design programmes which would form part of such an integrated system for certain classes of forging are described and these include a system for axisymmetric round forgings, a system for preform design and die layout design for long forgings and a system of composite dies for small batch round forgings, including computer aided die insert selection.
IntroductionThe forging and stamping industry produces a highly diverse product range and individual companies rely heavily on the skills of experienced personnel at all stages of manufacture. However, personnel with the required depth of experience are scarce and data on current practice is not in general well documented for future use. Thus there is a need to develop more rationalized procedures in the industry, which utilize past experience and manpower resources more efficiently. Large amounts of time are spent in the preparation of estimates and in die design and manufacture. Considerable benefits are to be gained from the integration of these functions and from automation through computer aided methods where applicable.The problem of introducing rationalized procedures into companies with a diverse product range can be alleviated by adopting the principles of group teehnology (Gallagher and Knight 1973, Evershiem and Miese 1974), such that the new procedures are based upon the division of product range into families of components related by similar design and manufacturing requirements and then to use these families as a basis for rationalization. The benefits which may result from this approach to forging and stamping have been discussed previously (Knight 1971, Knight 1974, Biswas and Knight 1974 and include:(a) rationalized tooling, using standardized and interchangeable inserts, leading to reduced die costs; (b) improved factory layouts with better work flow and easier production control; (0) systematic design procedures for forgings and forging dies; (d) improved estimating and costing procedures, using systematic data storage and retrieval; (e) standardization of work planning and process design.