A novel process planning approach for hybrid manufacturing consisting of additive, subtractive and inspection processes

In recent years, hybrid manufacturing technologies that combine different processes (e.g. additive and subtractive processes) together have gained significant attention. This is due to their ability to capitalise on the advantages of each individual process, whilst minimising their disadvantages. However, there are limited process planning methods that are able to effectively utilise manufacturing resources for hybrid processes. In this paper, a hybrid process entitled iAtractive, combining additive, subtractive and inspection processes, along with part specific process planning is proposed, aiming to provide the designer with greater manufacturing capability and flexibility. This novel process planning approach enables a plastic part to be manufactured in a proper way in terms of process capabilities, production time and material consumption. This approach can be also adopted to remanufacture and reincarnate exiting parts or legacy products into other products. In this paper, the principle and framework of this process planning approach is presented and a test part was manufactured to validate this innovative approach.