Retrieving designs from a sketch using an automated GT coding and classification system

Abstract

While the retrieval of existing designs to prevent unnecessary duplication of parts is a recognised strategy in the control of design costs the available techniques to achieve this, even in product data management systems, are limited in performance or require large resources. A novel system has been developed based on a new version of an existing coding system (CAMAC) that allows automatic coding of engineering drawings and their subsequent retrieval using a drawing of the desired component as the input. The ability to find designs using a detail drawing rather than textual descriptions is a significant achievement in itself. Previous testing of the system has demonstrated this capability but if a means could be found to find parts from a simple sketch then its practical application would be much more effective. This paper describes the development and testing of such a search capability using a database of over 3000 engineering components.

Keywords:

• Product data management
• Group technology
• Part coding and classification
• CAD design retrieval

Acknowledgments

Jeff Barton graduated with a degree in engineering and spent ten years in industry as a design engineer before joining Aston University in 1988 as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering Design. His area of research is in developing tools and techniques to support product and process design. He gained his PhD at Aston investigating the potential and feasibility of using discrete event-based enterprise simulation to evaluate the business impact of product design decisions. This work lead to a Teaching Company Scheme where the enterprise simulation research was applied to support operational and product design decisions. Later research focused on the CAMAC design retrieval software and led to being a joint inventor on the CAMAC patent application. Since 2002 Jeff has rejoined industry as a designer and project manager of mechanical handling equipment. He has continued his research links with Aston University through the further development of the CAMAC system and its subsequent commercialisation.

Doug Love held an appointment as a lecturer in manufacturing engineering at Aston before moving to the University Business School in 1995. He has a BSc in mechanical engineering from UMIST, a PhD from Aston and is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the manufacturing division of the UK Institute of Electrical Engineers. He worked as a production engineer on the early development of group technology cells and later held senior managerial positions in production control and manufacturing management. His research interests reflect the early interest in cellular manufacturing, being mainly focussed on the development of computerised tools and techniques to support the design and operation of manufacturing systems. These include a special interest in automated coding and classification systems for product design retrieval and cell design. He is currently the Convenor (Head) of the Technology and Operations Management Research Group at Aston Business School.