Expert knowledge framework driven hybrid manufacturing systems and methods

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• an accessible memory, wherein the processor is configured to:
• receive a computer-aided-design (CAD) model of a part to be manufactured and tools definitions of tools available for a manufacturing process;
• instantiate a virtual workpiece;
• instantiate the tools definitions against a manufacturing ontology to produce virtual tools;
• receive operations for the virtual tools;
• search for combinations of the operations to be performed on the virtual workpiece to make the virtual workpiece correspond to the CAD model;
• identify possible manufacturing solutions according to the search;
• and
• select a manufacturing plan from the possible manufacturing solutions.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause a control system to:

• receive a computer-aided-design (CAD) model of a part to be manufactured and tools definitions of tools available for a manufacturing process;
• instantiate a virtual workpiece;
• instantiate the tools definitions against a manufacturing ontology to produce virtual tools;
• receive operations for the virtual tools;
• search for combinations of the operations to be performed on the virtual workpiece to make the virtual workpiece correspond to the CAD model;
• identify possible manufacturing solutions according to the search;
• and
• select a manufacturing plan from the possible manufacturing solutions.