To stay competitive in today’s fast-paced market, manufacturing companies must shorten their time-to-market and decrease their costs by efficiently utilizing their resources. Here, improved software and better software integration throughout the product realization process is considered to be a key enabler. The aim of this thesis work has been to investigate the current workflow in design and process planning to outline a cloud-based application to support these activities. Pains and bottlenecks in these workflows have been identified through interview and field studies at six Swedish manufacturing companies of different sizes, in different industries, and with different operational models. The major areas of improvement were identified whereof one them, the initial activity of understanding customers’ needs, was decided to further focus on. From receiving a request for quotation from the customer to acceptance of an order, the following time-consuming activities were recognized: understand and discuss design intent as well as suggest possible design changes to improve manufacturability, analyze and review 2D drawings and 3D models, and develop order quotations. In this thesis work, a mock-up prototype has been put forward. The intent with this is to bridge a gap that has been identified through the mapping between manufacturers needs and functionality of available CAD/CAM software and the identified areas of improvement from the workflow investigations. The proposed solution, as presented in the mock-up prototype, has been validated together with three of the studied companies. At its current state, further improvements and validations are needed. Nevertheless, if further developed, it has the potential to create value within the entire manufacturing value chain. / För att vara konkurrenskraftig på dagens snabbrörliga marknad måste tillverkande företag minska sina tid till marknad och reducera sina kostnader genom att utnyttja sina resurser mer effektivt. Här anses förbättrad programvara och bättre mjukvaruintegration genom hela produktrealiseringsprocessen vara en viktig möjliggörare. Målet med detta arbete har varit att undersöka det aktuella arbetsflödet i design och processplanering för att föreslå en molnbaserad applikation för att stödja dessa aktiviteter. Problem och flaskhalsar i dessa arbetsflöden har identifierats genom intervjuer och fältstudier hos sex svenska tillverkande bolag i olika storlekar, i olika branscher och med olika operativa modeller. De viktigaste förbättringsområdena identifierades varav en, den initiala aktiviteten för att förstå kundernas behov, beslutades att ytterligare fokusera på. Från att ha mottagit en offertförfrågan från kunden till acceptans av en beställning kunde följande tidskrävande aktiviteter identifieras: förstå och diskutera designintention samt föreslå möjliga designändringar för att förbättra tillverkningsförmåga, analysera och granska 2D-ritningar och 3D-modeller, och utveckla ordernoteringar. I det här arbetet har en prototyplösning tagits fram. Avsikten med denna är att överbrygga ett gap som har identifierats genom kartläggning mellan tillverkarens behov och funktionalitet av tillgänglig CAD / CAM-programvara och de identifierade förbättringsområdena från arbetsflödesutredningarna. Den föreslagna lösningen, som presenterades i prototypen, har validerats tillsammans med tre av de studerade företagen. Vid sitt nuvarande tillstånd behövs ytterligare förbättringar och valideringar. Om den vidareutvecklas har den dock potentialen att skapa värde för hela tillverkningskedjan.

Engenharia reversa é o conceito de se produzir uma peça tomando como base um original ou modelo físico existentes, sem o uso de desenhos de engenharia. Empresas se voltam para a tecnologia da Engenharia Reversa como um complemento valioso para toda a gama de ferramentas CAD/CAM que elas possuem, devido às dificuldades encontradas quando se necessita trabalhar com superfícies de forma livre. Desta forma, faz-se necessária uma ferramenta que proporcione a inserção das formas deste modelo em um sistema CAD, de forma que se possa usufruir de todas as possibilidades, oferecidas por ele. Neste trabalho, é apresentada uma revisão bibliográfica que aborda a engenharia reversa desde sua origem até as técnicas avançadas existentes atualmente, ou seja, apresentando equipamentos e sistemas específicos usados atualmente para a prática de engenharia reversa. Mostra-se um sistema de engenharia reversa, que foi projetado e implementado realizando a integração desde uma máquina de medir 3 coordenadas até um centro de usinagem CNC com o auxílio de um software CAD comercial, o qual possui módulo de CAM integrado. São apresentados também 3 estudos de casos. / Reverse engineering is the concept of making a part based on an original or existing physical model, without engineering drawings. Companies are using reverse engineering technology as a valuable complement to many of their CAD/CAM tools, due to their difficulties of working with free-form surfaces. It is necessary a tool which provides the insertion of the model forms in the CAD system, therefore enabling to take advantages of all possibilities offered by the system. The Reverse Engineering has developed beyond the traditional copy milling. It is presented a review of the reverse engineering since its origin until recent advanced techniques, where the equipments and specific systems used for reverse engineering practice nowadays are showed. In this work a reverse engineering system has been designed and implemented, which is accomplished by the integration from the coordinate measuring machine until a CNC machining center, by using a commercial CAD software with integrated CAM module. In order to validate the system developed, three case studies are also presented.

Engenharia reversa é o conceito de se produzir uma peça tomando como base um original ou modelo físico existentes, sem o uso de desenhos de engenharia. Empresas se voltam para a tecnologia da Engenharia Reversa como um complemento valioso para toda a gama de ferramentas CAD/CAM que elas possuem, devido às dificuldades encontradas quando se necessita trabalhar com superfícies de forma livre. Desta forma, faz-se necessária uma ferramenta que proporcione a inserção das formas deste modelo em um sistema CAD, de forma que se possa usufruir de todas as possibilidades, oferecidas por ele. Neste trabalho, é apresentada uma revisão bibliográfica que aborda a engenharia reversa desde sua origem até as técnicas avançadas existentes atualmente, ou seja, apresentando equipamentos e sistemas específicos usados atualmente para a prática de engenharia reversa. Mostra-se um sistema de engenharia reversa, que foi projetado e implementado realizando a integração desde uma máquina de medir 3 coordenadas até um centro de usinagem CNC com o auxílio de um software CAD comercial, o qual possui módulo de CAM integrado. São apresentados também 3 estudos de casos. / Reverse engineering is the concept of making a part based on an original or existing physical model, without engineering drawings. Companies are using reverse engineering technology as a valuable complement to many of their CAD/CAM tools, due to their difficulties of working with free-form surfaces. It is necessary a tool which provides the insertion of the model forms in the CAD system, therefore enabling to take advantages of all possibilities offered by the system. The Reverse Engineering has developed beyond the traditional copy milling. It is presented a review of the reverse engineering since its origin until recent advanced techniques, where the equipments and specific systems used for reverse engineering practice nowadays are showed. In this work a reverse engineering system has been designed and implemented, which is accomplished by the integration from the coordinate measuring machine until a CNC machining center, by using a commercial CAD software with integrated CAM module. In order to validate the system developed, three case studies are also presented.