Reducing data loss within adaptive process chains in the context of commonly-used CAx systems

In many industries the focus in CAx based manufacturing has changed from fixed process chains to ones which can adapt to dynamic inputs. This way process chains can take measurement data into account to produce optimal results. Unfortunately, existing approaches do not integrate well with the existing CAx systems since they do not ensure that existing processes will be kept unchanged. This restriction leads to a low adaption rate in some industries. Especially in the aerospace industry every change in the manufacturing processes will result in high costs. In this paper it is shown that an extended function block approach can be integrated with existing CAx systems while allowing the modeling and controlling of adaptive process chains with reduced data loss at the same time. In order to achieve this goal, data port manifests are introduced which announce supported data formats and features of the corresponding function block. This extension reduces information loss at system interfaces and helps to ensure that required data will be transferred between function blocks. A case study will show how this extension can be used in a common CAx system.