Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability

Factories of the digital future would require simulation and optimization of processes and process chains before establishing the actual line using very specific procedures. There is tremendous scope for reducing significantly the lead time for production and costs by employing planning tools for virtual machining. P4 is designed to address challenges faced by automobile industries to integrate developments in technology based software and pave way for defect free process plans. P4 presents a novel way to plan each process as an independent entity that exists as part of a sequence. Face milling is used as an example in this report to demonstrate the various concepts that form the core of P4.