Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM)

Integrated within the digital design/manufacturing environment specific to the development of industrial products, Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) is a crucial stage in the process. Its purpose is to schedule manufacturing operations according to the range defined in advance by the process planning expert, and to prepare and parameterize manufacturing operations: choice of manufacturing strategies, choice of tools, choice of parameters, ....

It thus concentrates manufacturing know-how, based both on geometric and technological numerical data for products and the manufacturing environment (tools, machines, numerical controls, etc.), and on the formalization of process skills.

As an integral part of the digital product development chain, also known as the CAD/CAM/CNC chain, CAM has seen its performance evolve considerably since its early years, thanks to advances in computing and modeling tools. It is now capable of generating complex trajectories, involving multi-axis movements of the position and orientation of the manufacturing tool, based in particular on multi-physics simulation of the process used. However, there are still many challenges to be met.

Firstly, this article positions CAM within the digital product design/manufacturing chain, and reviews the main organizations of associated digital data. It then focuses on the core activity of CAM software, namely the generation of manufacturing trajectories. Finally, new challenges facing CAM solutions are presented, to meet the challenges posed by the emergence of new manufacturing processes and new generations of intelligent manufacturing equipment.