Process configuration based on generative constraint satisfaction problem

Product configuration, a widely used technology in product family design, is one of the most effective technologies of mass customization strategies which have been deployed by many companies for years. Nevertheless, the mass customization needs to cover the management of the whole customizable product cycle. In order to assist the development of mass customization, it is essential to extend the configuration technology to product family process planning, which is the technological essence of process configuration. In this article the process configuration task is confirmed based on the analysis of characteristics of process planning. Compared with the solving scheme of product configuration, the process configuration is then mapped into a generative constraint satisfaction problem (GCSP), and the variables and constraints of the process configuration GCSP model are identified respectively. An algorithm based on backtracking algorithm is introduced to complete the process configuration. Finally, an experiment on machining process configuration for satellite plate panel verifies the validity of our algorithm.