Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) of Biodevices - Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technologies for Biomedical Devices - page 163

9.1 Introduction to Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM)

Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to prepare part man-
ufacture and to control machine tools and related machinery during part or product
fabrication.
Traditionally CAM has been directly associated to computer numerical control
machining, aimed at the direct generation of a code to drive the machine tool, start-
ing from the information included in the 2D or 3D CAD part geometries. The whole
machining process is aided and aspects such as tool velocity, precision required, and
tool change, among others, can be defi ned and automated, what normally involves
processes such as roughing (from raw material to a rough shape of the part), semi-
fi nishing (further working on the rough part), fi nishing (based on much slower
passes across the surface for increased accuracy), and contour milling (optional
fi nal accuracy improvement by moving the part to make the features of the part
tangent to the cutting edges, only in special machines), each of them requiring dif-
ferent parameters and tools.
A more advanced and complete approach includes also all the computer-based
simulation tools for preparing and adequately managing a whole production plant
and its manufacturing processes. Therefore, novel simulation resources and mod-
ules are progressively being included in CAM software for helping with tasks as
diverse as manufacturing plant planning; management of energy, materials, pro-
cesses, information, and products in the whole plant; control of resources; and esti-
mation of costs and deadlines.
Nowadays CAM is integrated together with CAD-CAE within the umbrella of
product life cycle management (PLM) (i.e., Siemens PLM Solutions), aimed at the
global defi nition of all aspects involved in the product development, including design
of parts and components, defi nition of materials and commercial pieces, preparation of
manufacturing and production-related processes, defi nition of maintenance strategy,
and global management of information, including inputs from suppliers and clients.
In any case, the collaboration between the mechanical engineers, normally
focused on the design; the production engineers, normally focused on manufacture;
the NC programmers; and the machinists is still essential for obtaining adequate
results. In fact, the traditional role from the NC programmers is being progressively
acquired by the machinists, whose expertise in computer resources and manufactur-
ing technologies is highly demanded and essential for the success of novel product
development projects.
More recent additive manufacturing technologies (AMT), working on a “layer-
by-layer” approach, as detailed in Chap. 10 , also benefi t from specifi c CAM
resources, as each AMT process has its own special details and the automated man-
ufacture has to be also prepared with the help of software (i.e., 3D Lightyear TM fi le
preparation software). Other mass production processes such as plastic injection
molding (Moldfl ow, Autodesk Inc.) and metal injection molding (Magmasoft ® ) also
benefi t from CAM resources, as a help for production-oriented design.