Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
DOI 10.1007/s00170-011-3398-z
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Computer-aided process planning for NC tool path
generation of complex shoe molds
Hsin-Chuan Chen & Hong-Tzong Yau &
Chien-Chung Lin
Received: 5 January 2011 / Accepted: 17 May 2011 / Published online: 31 May 2011
# Springer-Verlag London Limited 2011
Abstract This paper presents a computer aided process
planning (CAPP) system for numerical control tool path
generation of complex shoe molds. This CAPP system
includes both the automation of auxiliary boundary curve
generation and machining strategies. The automation of
auxiliary boundary curve generation and machining strate-
gies make tool path generation more accurately and
efficiently. Traditional shoe mold making is a very tedious
process. Even with the utilization of computer-aided design
and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), the CAM
process requires long hours of tool path programming and
debugging. It would also take a long time to calculate
(sometimes several hours) the tool path for complex athletic
footwear. In order to reduce the tool path editing and
programming time, this paper proposes the use of CAPP to
reduce processing time and increase efficiency. It is
difficult, if not impossible, to develop a generic CAPP
system that can generate a process plan to solve general
production problems. However, it is quite possible to
capture the domain knowledge of a certain production
process and embed that knowledge into a CAPP system.
We prove, by using such a system, that a very complicated
process planning problem can be overcome by a
knowledge-based CAPP approach. With such an approach,
the traditional manufacturing process of shoe molds can be
converted to an automatic manufacturing process with the
H.-C. Chen (*) : H.-T. Yau
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Chung-Cheng University,
Chiayi, Taiwan
e-mail: hcchen@pcc-server.ccu.edu.tw
C.-C. Lin
Pouyuen Technology, Inc.,
Changhua, Taiwan
CAPP system. In fact, shoe molds for real production have
been created using the developed CAPP system, demon-
strating the effectiveness of this approach. In this paper, we
show that several complex and different shoe molds and
their machining strategies were automatically planned by
the proposed CAPP system. The result of a comparison
between the CAPP system with the traditional approach is
presented and discussed.
Keywords CAPP . Shoe mold . Machining . CAM . NC tool
path generation
1 Introduction
Material and manpower costs, along with the expenditures
required for an enterprise, have constantly increased. There
has been a goal to reduce these costs by improving the
manufacturing process. With progress in hardware technol-
ogy, computer calculation has become speedier than before.
Therefore, how to economize the use of manpower and
materials by designing the manufacturing process with
computers has become an important issue.
Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) is an impor-
tant part of a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
environment. The purpose of CAPP is to automate process
planning so that process plans can be consistently generat-
ed. Process planning, including the manufacturing process
and the sequences, manufactures products economically
and competitively. In terms of machining processes, the
major process planning sequences consist of choosing
product design data, selecting machining process, sequenc-
ing the operations, determining the proper cutting param-
eters and tolerance, and generating the tool paths and
numerical control (NC) data [1].
608
Fig. 1 The casting processes of a shoe mold
In the shoe industry, traditional shoe mold making is a
very tedious process. However, even with the utilization of
computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing
(CAD/CAM), the CAM process requires long hours of tool
path programming and debugging. It would also take a long
time to calculate (sometimes several hours) the tool paths
for complex athletic footwear. The most complex part of an
athletic footwear is the outsole. It often requires spending
much programming time because it has features which have
variety and complexity. For the shoe mold, instead of direct
machining, a synthetic wood mold would be created first
and a die cast would be produced after several casting
processes as shown in Fig. 1.
The machining problems will not be considered when a
shoe model design stresses esthetics. But when machining
strategy of this shoe model is taken into account, the three-
axis machining method would be considered insufficient. At
this time, in order to access complete machinable features of
the shoe model, the three-axis/five-sided machining approach
would be carried out as shown in Fig. 2. The precision
requirement of shoe molds is about 0.02 mm. It can be easily
achieved using the three-axis/five-sided machining process
with a precision index (or rotary) table. In other words, the
error stack-up due to multiple setups can be avoided by
using the precision index table, which is the advantage of the
three-axis/five-sided machining process. As to shoe molds,
the geometric design of CAD model will purposely avoid
Fig. 2 Three-axis and five-sided machining processes of a shoe mold
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
any undercut region such that the shoe sole can be
successfully ejected from the mold. Therefore, the CAD
model can be machined completely using the three-axis/five-
sided machining process.
Of course, five-axis machining may be another possible
solution to this problem [2–4]. However, when comparing
the three-axis/five-sided machining with five-axis machin-
ing for the shoe mold, the former has the advantage of
lower cost and higher efficiency, not only because the
milling process can be finished just through the cooperation
with an index table but also the machining strategies can be
programmed more efficiently. But when using the latter as
the platform of the shoe mold machining, it has several
disadvantages including the process of five-axis tool path
generation is time-consuming and complex, the price of a
five-axis machine tool is much more expensive, and full
automation of the machining process is difficult to achieve.
For the aforementioned reasons, shoe factories have long
been using the three-axis milling machine with an index
table for shoe mold making.
In the traditional shoe mold developing stage, machining
processes are often different because the developers are not
the same in each stage. However, in a tool path generation
system, the machining strategies must be consistent and
well-ordered to reduce the possibility of reworking. In order
to resolve this problem, CAPP, the system of combining
computer-aided manufacturing information and process
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
Fig. 3 The generation of a
section polyline: a the cutting
tool projection on the work-
piece, b the normal vector of a
contact point
planning becomes a potential solution. In order to increase
efficiency and reduce tool path editing and programming
time, this paper proposes the use of CAPP for shoe mold
production.
2 Related work
2.1 CAPP
It has been more than 30 years since the first noticeable
efforts at automated process planning with computers
began. The idea of developing process plans with com-
puters was first presented by Neibel [5]. In 1976, the first
CAPP system was developed under the sponsorship of
Computer Aided Manufacturing International by using
various approaches. In 1977, Wysk [6] first presented a
generative system called APPAS which focused on detailed
process selection in his Ph.D dissertation. The two main
approaches of CAPP are variant and generative [1], and
some developers have tried to combine parts of both
approaches forming another category called semi-
generative CAPP. To date, there are more than 200 CAPP
systems that have been developed in various engineering
domain [1, 5].
2.2 CAPP with CAM
Process planning shows the need to translate the design
specifications of a part into the required manufacturing
operating instructions and to convert the specifications from
the raw material to the part in its final state.
Alvares et al. [7] described the CAD/CAPP/CAM inte-
grated system to cylindrical part through the web-based way.
Choi and Ko. [8] presented a C-space-based CAPP algorithm
Fig. 4 The separation of points
on an SP due to the required
overlapped effect: a the defini- Normal vector of a
tion of the included angle θ, contact point
b the result of the overlapped
effect including the angle
control
609
for freeform die-cavity machining. Albertia et al. [9] used the
CAPP concept for high-speed milling operations.
2.3 Machining strategy
After a series of machining processes are completed, the
raw material stock becomes a finished product. These
processes can be classified according to roughing processes
and finishing processes. As for shoe mold, the roughing
processes include the profile strategy and the semi-finish
strategy. Combining the tool radius with skin can be one of
the roughing processes. The finishing processes, including
the projection strategy [10, 11], z-level strategy [12, 13],
pocketing strategy [14–16], and clean-up strategy [17–19],
are normally quite different processes. The machining
operations required for different shoe types can be set up
by combining various strategies.
2.4 CAPP with shoe molds
Britain was the first country to propose the use of CAD/
CAM in shoe industry, but it was not so popular at that
time. Afterwards, European shoemaking industry was faced
with the situation that manpower became expensive and
insufficient, and it made the use of CAD/CAM technology
a standardized process to the shoe industry.
Because the manufacturing process of shoe molds
emphasizes the automation and efficiency more and more,
the combination of CAPP and CAD/CAM in the shoe
molds which promotes the production efficiency, has
become a natural trend. However, recent research about
shoe molds has largely been focused on the customized
design of shoe last [20, 21] or the scaling method of
different sizes of shoe molds [22], and it lacks the related
discussion about the combination of CAPP and manufac-
Z
θ
610
Fig. 5 The creation of 3D
boundary curve of negative
z-axis direction: a the creation of
section polylines, b the 3D
boundary curve of negative
z-axis direction generated by
connecting separated points by
turns, c the overlapped 3D
boundary of negative z-axis
direction (green)
turing process of shoe molds which are more complex in
geometry than shoe lasts.
3 System overview
In general, there are 23 different sizes of a shoe mold that
are needed for shoe production when a new shoe fashion
design appears. The manufacturing process can be divided
into the mold development stage (often size 9, which is
called the standard size) and the mold production stage
(sizes other than 9). First, the CAD data of the standard
shoe size will be obtained. The machining strategy plans for
this stage is called the mold development stage. The CAD
data of the other shoe sizes will then be acquired by the
grading process using the standard shoe size. After the
standard shoe size machining strategy is completed, the
information, including the cutting parameter, the model
data, and the processing strategy will be output as a file so
that it can be applied to the other shoe sizes. The mold
production stage is carried out by setting up a correspon-
dence or relationship between the model data and the
cutting parameter of each machining strategy. So long as
the corresponding information can work correctly, the
machining strategy and its cutting parameter will not
require large modification.
In this paper, we develop a CAPP system to customize
the mold development and mold production processes for
shoe molds. In Section 4, the components of the proposed
CAPP system, including the generation of the boundary
curves and machining strategies, will be elaborated. In
Section 5, the shoe CAPP will be presented. In Section 6,
some shoe mold examples that were tested and verified will
be given. The conclusion and future research will be put
forward in Section 7.
Fig. 6 The creation of the initial
3D boundary curves of the neg- BC-FNX
ative x-axis direction: a the
creation of section polylines,
b the initial 3D boundary curve
(red), c the overlapped 3D
boundary curve (green)
a b
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
4 The components of CAPP system
In order to make the CAPP system work automatically,
the most important thing is to remove the manual
operations and human decision makings during the tool
path generation. However, such operations mostly occur
on the boundary creation of overlap regions among the
machining region of each axial direction because the
sizes of the overlap regions will affect the tool path
generation time and the amount of NC code. How to
determine the appropriate overlap regions is often
difficult and time consuming. In Section 4.1, a method
to generate the auxiliary boundary curves will be pre-
sented to constrain the cutting area and depth. By using
the auxiliary boundary curves of each axial direction, the
overlap regions of each axis can be controlled according to
the machining requirement. In Section 4.2, the procedure
of tool path generation and the machining process of shoe
mold will be introduced and displayed.
4.1 Generation of auxiliary boundary curves
The auxiliary boundary curves can help avoid machining
problems such as excessive cutting load or collision during
tool path generation. However, traditionally, the auxiliary
boundary curves are often decided by personal judgments
before the tool path generation. Not only does this take a lot
of time, but the result also lacks consistency. The auxiliary
boundary curve generation is included in the CAPP system.
It can decide the best cutting height automatically for each
machining direction and does not need a human decision
plan. It makes the production of shoe molds more
automated and synchronized, and does not rely on
experiences of CAM experts. The generation steps are
described below.
OBC-FNX
OBC-BNX
BC-BNX
c
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
Fig. 7 The creation of the final
3D boundary curves of the neg-
a
ative x-axis direction: a the
original active four BC or OBC
in each direction, b producing
the final result BC-BNX
Step 1 Let the cutter pass through a series of horizontal lines
and project the points of these horizontal lines onto
the workpiece by using the cutting tool projection.
The projection can generate a 3D polyline, called a
section polyline (SP), and then the normal vector of a
contact point based on the cutter location can be
calculated, as shown in Fig. 3.
Step 2 After the contact point is calculated, the
included angle θ between the normal vector
of the contact point and the z-axis will also be
computed. The included angle θ, which controls
the cutting position of the model edge, represents
the slope of the cutting tool and the contact
position of the workpiece as shown in Fig. 4a.
When θ is bigger, it means that the cutting tool
contacts a steeper region; when θ is smaller, it
means the cutting tool contacts a flatter region.
We can label the separated points of SP by using
the included angle θ.
Step 3 The suitable overlap effect can be produced by
using angle control (e.g., θ±3°), it not only can
ensure the machining is complete but the unnec-
essary tool paths due to five-sided machining can
be under control as shown in Fig. 4b. When the
included angle of the point of SP is near θ–3°, the
point will be labeled as “overlapped-boundary”
status; when the included angle of point of SP is
near θ+3°, the point will be labeled as “bound-
ary” status.
Fig. 8 The creation of the final a b
3D boundary curves of the neg-
ative y-axis direction: a the
original active four BC or OBC
in each direction, b the final
result is produced OBC-FNX
OBC-PZ
611
OBC-NZ BC-NZ
BC-FNX
OBC-PZ
Step 4 After generating the SPs in the x- and y-axis
directions shown in Fig. 5a, the separated points
of different SPs can be obtained in turn, based on
the projection data. Connecting these points
labeled as “boundary” status can form a curve
called the boundary curve (BC). When the BC is
generated in the negative z-axis direction, the 3D
auxiliary BC will be called BC–negative z-axis
(NZ), as shown in Fig. 5b. Connecting these
points labeled as “overlapped-boundary” status
can form a curve called overlapped boundary
curve (OBC). When the OBC is generated in the
negative z-axis direction, the 3D auxiliary OBC
called OBC–NZ can be obtained as shown in
Fig. 5c. In addition, the BC and OBC of the
positive z-axis direction (BC–PZ and OBC–PZ)
are the same because the bottom of the model is a
plane and does not need to be machined. The
curve labeled as BC–NZ, OBC–NZ, BC–PZ, and
OBC–PZ is a closed curve.
Step 5 After generating SPs of the longer side (for
example, the direction of negative x-axis), the
separated points of each SP can be executed by
using angle control mentioned in Step 3 as shown
in Fig. 6a. The process of forming BC–NX can be
divided into two steps:
Step 5.1 Generate the initial BC and OBC of the
direction; in the beginning of this direc-
OBC-NZ
BC-NZ
OBC-FPX
612
Fig. 9 The creation of 3D boundary curves: a the initial 3D boundary
curves before trimming, b the final 3D boundary curves
tion, there are four open curves generated
separately after the connection of points
labeled as “boundary” or “overlapped-
boundary” status. Connecting these points
labeled as “boundary” status can form two
open curves called BC–FNX and BC–
BNX as shown in Fig. 6b, and connecting
these points labeled as “overlapped-bound-
ary” status, two open curves called OBC–
FNX and OBC–BNX can also be generated
as shown in Fig. 6c.
Step 5.2 Generate the final BC of the direction; the
3D auxiliary BC of negative x-axis direction
called BC–NX can be obtained from original
active four BC or OBC in each direction
including OBC–NZ, BC–FNX, BC–BNX,
and OBC–PZ as shown in Fig. 7a. Through
the trimming operation in each other, BC–
NX can be formed by four curve segments.
The first segment is the curve segment
where OBC–NZ is trimmed by BC–FNX
and BC–BNX. The second segment is the
curve segment where BC–FNX is trimmed
by OBC–NZ and OBC–PZ. The third seg-
ment is the curve segment where OBC–PZ is
trimmed by BC–FNX and BC–BNX. The
fourth segment is the curve segment where
BC–BNX is trimmed by OBC–NZ and
Fig. 10 Tool path topology pat-
terns: a serial pattern, b radial
pattern, c strip pattern, and d
contour pattern [24]
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
OBC–PZ. After connecting the four curve
segments in turns, BC–NX can finally be
formed as shown in Fig. 7b.
Following the same steps, the creation of the initial
3D boundary curves of the other longer side of the shoe
mold (the direction of positive x-axis) can also be
generated.
Step 6 Deal with the shorter side (for example, the
direction of negative y-axis); in order to maintain
the overlapped effect, the BC of this direction
called BC–NY can be generated from original
active four BC or OBC in each direction including
OBC–NZ, OBC–FPX, OBC–FNX, and OBC–PZ
as shown in Fig. 8a. Through the trimming
operation in each other, BC–NY can be formed
by four curve segments. The first segment is the
curve segment where OBC–NZ is trimmed by
OBC–FPX and OBC–FNX. The second segment
is the curve segment where OBC–FPX is trimmed
by OBC–NZ and OBC–PZ. The third segment is
the curve segment where OBC–PZ is trimmed by
OBC–FPX and OBC–FNX. The fourth segment is
the curve segment where OBC–FNX is trimmed
by OBC–NZ and OBC–PZ. After connecting the
four curve segments in turn, the 3D boundary
curves of this direction, BC–NY, can be achieved
as shown in Fig. 8b.
According to the same steps, the creation of the 3D
boundary curves of the other shorter side of the shoe
mold (the direction of positive y-axis) can also be
generated.
By taking these steps, the 3D boundary curves of each
cutting axis can be obtained as shown in Fig. 9. These 3D
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619 613

Fig. 11 Parts of machining

strategies: a area cut, b curve
cut, c filet cut, d pencil cut,
e contour cut, f profile cut,
g pocketing, and h shouldering
[24]

boundary curves can be represented in non-uniform rational point of the polylines will fall on the surface of the design
basis spline (NURBS) form as shown in Eq. 1. part (or is deviated from the surface with an allowable
tolerance) and a cutter will be commanded to move through
8 these points in space. However, it is time consuming with
P
n >
> Ni;p ðuÞ: basis functions
Ni;p ðuÞwi Pi >
> high-density tool paths. So in order to make machining
< Pi : control po int s
CðuÞ ¼ i¼0 ; and n : number of control points more efficient, a suitable tool path planning is needed under
Pn >
> accuracy requirement. The full tool path generation process
Ni;p ðuÞwi >
> w : weights
i¼0 : i needs to consider three components: (1) cutter selection, (2)
u : parameter
machining stage (roughing, finishing, etc.), and (3) tool
ð1Þ
path topology pattern design. After these three components
are ready, the tool paths can be calculated by cutter contact-
4.2 Procedure of tool path generation or cutter location (CL)-based method [23, 24].
In the cutter selection process, the automatically
The goal of the tool path generation is to approximate the programmed tools [25] is adopted to satisfy the requirement
design part using a number of polylines. Ideally, every of each machining stage. Different machining stage is often

Fig. 12 The tool path genera-

tion and machining process Design part

Raw stock

Cutter selection Machining stage Tool-path topology

Ball-end Roughing Serial

Flat-end Semi-finishing Radial
Fillet-end Finishing Strip
Other kinds of APT Clean- up Contour
Super-finish

Tool-path calculation CC based

CL based

Export NC code & machining

Finish part
614 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619

employed to achieve a certain operational result, like
roughing, finishing, or cleaning up, etc. The distribution
(or “tracing”) of the tool paths filling the machining region
is called the tool path topology. There are four types of tool
path topology patterns shown in Fig. 10. The combination
of a machining stage and single or multiple tool path
topology patterns can be described as a machining strategy.
In practical application, the tool path topology patterns may
be planned together and it will form different machining
strategies as shown in Fig. 11.
The cutter selection and the machining strategy need to be
considered at the same time in order to remove material from
raw stock to form the desired model of each procedure. The
purpose of the tool path topology pattern design is to generate
the path polylines to fill the machining region. The final
procedure is to calculate the interference-free CL points on the
tool paths and then export these tool paths as NC code to
produce the design part. The flowchart is shown in Fig. 12.
The shoe mold machining processes, if distinguished from
the machining stage, may be classified into the roughing
process, the semi-finishing process, the finishing process, and
the cleaning-up process. If is the machining processes are
distinguished from the machining strategy, it may be classified
into projection machining, z-level machining and clean-up
machining. Moreover, after the workpiece has been ma-
chined completely by the machine tool, we still need to
generate measuring mark on the workpiece by using curve
projection machining (curve–cut). The function of measuring
mark is to examine whether the accuracy between the finish
part and the desired model satisfy the requirement. For shoe
molds, the machining stage, tool path topology, and
machining strategy are listed in Table 1.
the auxiliary boundary curves and the automation processes
for machining strategies. The auxiliary features contain
information on cutting areas and depth. This information
makes the calculation of tool paths more reasonable and
efficient. Moreover, each machining process, including the
selection of a cutter, the setup of the machining axis, the
machining strategy, the setup of machining parameters and
tolerance, and the selection of another axis for machining in
the next step, will be automatically programmed by the
system as shown in Fig. 13.
At the same time, the processing strategy can be set up
by using a default system parameter, and this may enhance
serviceability by providing add or delete operations and
machining parameter modifications as shown in Fig. 14.
5.2 The CAPP system for other production sizes
Once the machining strategies for the standard shoe size
have been determined, the strategies for the other produc-
tion sizes can be closely linked to each other, and it is
Fig. 13 The proposed CAPP
Import CAD model
processes for the mold develop- (Standard size)
ment stage
Setup and classify shoe type
Generate auxiliary features
Setup tool parameter
Setup machining axis

5 Introduction to the CAPP system Select machining strategy

5.1 The CAPP system for the standard shoe size Setup machining parameter

The standard shoe size processing procedure can be described

Setup machining tolerance
as follows: after the CAD model in the IGES or the STL
format is imported, the left or right shoe type will be chosen.
We then select the suitable CAPP procedure for this shoe type. Y
Next axis?
The CAPP system includes both the automated generation of
N
Table 1 Information of machining process used in shoe molds
Generate tool-paths
13
Machining stage Tool path topology Machining strategy
Verify and edit tool-paths
Rough Contour Pocketing, profile cut
Semi-finish Serial Area cut
Finish Contour, serial Area cut, contour cut Export NC code
Clean-up Strip Pencil cut, filet cut
Curve projection Strip Curve cut End
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
Fig. 14 a The proposed CAPP system for the mold development stage, b the result of automatically generated strategies
called the mold reproduction stage. Traditionally, without
the automated system, the operators will repeat the process
planning for all new sizes. Although they can refer to the
procedures of standard shoe size, but undesirable situations
can still occur through manual operations. Some of the
situations are: (1) careless human mistakes in manual
operations can happen and it leads to a time-consuming
rechecking and problem-fixing process. (2) Alteration or
modification of the standard procedures can result in
unstable quality due to inexperience of a new human
operator. (3) For each size, the process plan is newly
created and reworking may be necessary if there is a human
mistake involved. For the reproduction stage which consists
of more than 25 molds, this manual reproduction process
not only leads to the tremendous waste of manpower and
time, but also increases the entire operation cost spent on
Fig. 15 The proposed CAPP Import CAD model
processes for the mold (Other productive size)
reproduction stage
Load machining information from
standard shoe size
Generate auxiliary features
Generate tool-paths
Detect collision of tool-paths
Y
Execute other
shoe sizes?
Verify and edit tool-paths
Export NC code
End
615
hardware and software. However, these undesirable sit-
uations can be avoided by adopting the automated
processes. Through the CAPP system, the human operation
cost in the reproduction stage can be much reduced.
Generally speaking, although the manufacturing sizes
are different, but the machining strategies between the
standard size and the other sizes remain the same. There are
two properties, level and color, stored in each of the
geometric object of the CAD data. The properties of the
CAD data in the other shoe sizes will be rearranged to
correspond with the standard shoe size in order to recall the
data parameters correctly during calculation. According to
these properties, it is possible and useful to recall the
parameters back to match the automated process. After the
correspondence between the model data and cutting
parameter of each machining strategy matches completely,
it is sure that the operation sequence can be executed
automatically.
The CAD data of different shoe sizes are managed by a
table of contents so that they can be searched and retrieved
by the system automatically. Before the tool path calcula-
tion, the auxiliary boundary curves of each shoe size will be
Fig. 16 The proposed CAPP system for the mold reproduction stage
616 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619

Table 2 Information on the two

shoe models Outsole

Case 1 Case 2

Surface/STL 1,559/318,958 283/701,122

Size (mm) 113×306×50 116×308×55
Machining sequence of each cutting axis −z: 17 −z: 12
−x: 9 −x: 6
−y: 10 −y: 5
+x: 9 +x: 6
+y: 10 +y: 5

generated automatically. Then the machining information
created from the standard shoe size is loaded. The
machining information includes the machining strategy,
cutting parameters, and corresponding CAD data of the
standard shoe size. After associating the geometric objects
of different shoe size with the corresponding CAD data of
the standard size, the machining information can be
regenerated and synchronized to each different shoe size.
Then after automatic calculation, the NC path can be output
directly as shown in Fig. 15.
The manual operation is unnecessary during the pro-
posed automatic process and the mistakes or unstable
quality generated due to personal habit or individuality
can be reduced. Furthermore, the possibility of reworking
reduced through the well-ordered procedure and the well-
maintained product quality can remain consistent. From an
operational viewpoint, after the input and output parameters
have been set up, the tedious operations for the various
shoe sizes become much simplified, and the machining
information can be loaded and tool path calculated
automatically by the computer, as shown in Fig. 16.
6 Implementation and discussion
The auxiliary boundary curves of a shoe model are
traditionally created by a user based on his skill and
experience to support tool path generation. At the same
time, every machining strategy requires an attentive mind to
avoid making operational mistakes and causing machining
problems. However, the characteristics of a shoe model are
varied and complex. There will be some differences in the

The auxiliary Rough Semi-finish Finish

boundary curves (Profile-cut) (Area-cut) (Area-cut)

Clean-up Curve-projection 3-axis, 5-sided Finished part

(Pencil-cut) (Curve-cut) machining

Fig. 17 Using the proposed CAPP system on the first shoe mold
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619 617

tool path generation because not every user’s skill and

experience are the same.
In the proposed CAPP system, the auxiliary boundary
curves of the shoe model are automatically evaluated based
on the machining condition for various models. Further-
more, the presented system provides a "one button"
operation to provide suitable machining strategy for
different shoe models. With this operation, the user only
needs to identify the kind of shoe model. Most part of the
machining strategy is planned by the system. Not only does
this save operation time and standardize the manufacturing
process, but the process planning will not vary from person
to person.
The following gives two cases of complex shoe molds.
Their machining strategies were automatically planned and
standardized by the proposed CAPP system. These ma-
Fig. 19 Shoe molds after the reproduction process
chining strategies were applied in actual manufacturing of
shoe molds. To verify the proposed CAPP system, NC tool
paths were generated for these two shoe models. These Because the first shoe model was more complex, there
CAD models contain NURBS free-form surfaces triangu- were still many small uncut regions after finish machining
lated as polyhedral surfaces. The tool path contains rough- was completed. Thus, it required several clean-up stages to
ing and finishing sequences using different types of cutter. machine these places well. The auxiliary boundary curves
For the first shoe model, after surface triangulation, these of the shoe models and part of the machining strategies for
models were decomposed into an STL file containing these two cases are shown in Figs. 17 and 18.
777,183 and 96,753 triangles in each case. Their sizes were After the mold development process, the mold repro-
113×306×50 and 116×308×55 mm. The model informa- duction process will proceed. The achievements of mold
tion and machining conditions are listed in Table 2. reproduction process are shown in Fig. 19.

The auxiliary Rough Semi-finish Finish

boundary curves (Profile-cut) (Area-cut) (Area-cut)

Clean-up Curve-projection 3-axis, 5-sided Finished part

(Pencil-cut) (Curve-cut) machining

Fig. 18 Using the proposed CAPP system on the second shoe mold
618 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619

Table 3 A comparison of working time between a fully manual operation and the proposed CAPP system

Working time (unit, min) Saving rate (A-B)/A

Manual operation (A) CAPP system (B)

Development 20+70+60+30=180 (20+70×30%+60×80%+30)=119

Reproduction (20+70+60+30)×22=3,960 (20+0+60×80%+30×70%)×22=1,958
Total time 4,140 2,077 49.8%

The saving of work time includes two processes: mold
development and mold reproduction. Generally, the mold
development process can be divided into four stages: (1)
rearrange CAD data, (2) set up machining strategy, (3)
generate the auxiliary boundary curves and tool paths,
and (4) verify and edit tool paths. In this process, the
time required for stage 2 will be reduced by 70%
because most of the machining strategy of certain shoe
molds has already been well planned and can be
generated automatically. The time required for stage 3
will be reduced by 20% because the auxiliary boundary
curves can be generated automatically.
When dealing with the mold reproduction processes, a
fully manual operation requires much more time than a
CAPP system does. Taking a shoe model as an example, if
the time needed for the various stages in the mold
development process is 20, 70, 60, and 30 min, respective-
ly, the time saving for the various stages will be as follows.
First, the time for stage 2 is no longer needed because the
process is well planned in the mold development process.
Second, the time for stage 3 will be reduced by 20%
because the boundary curves can be generated automatical-
ly. Third, the tool path editing time will be reduced by 30%
because the regions needing editing have been delineated
during the mold development process. The total running
time for the operation and calculation is 4,140 and
2,077 min, respectively, on a Pentium 2.4-G Hz, 1-G
RAM computer.
It can be seen that the percentage of working time saved
is about 49.8%, including development and reproduction
processes. However, in a fully manual operation, the person
must stay in front of the computer and cannot do other
things until the tool paths are well generated. However,
when using the proposed CAPP system, after the machining
sequences of standard size are planned and the tool path is
generated and completely checked, most of the working
time needed for the rest of the shoe sizes involves the tool
path calculated by computer, so the person can execute
other work tasks until the calculation has been completed.
So the CAPP system can also make the use of manpower
more efficient and economical. Furthermore, a fully manual
operation often causes the problem of inconsistent produc-
tion quality, so that a reworking process is often needed; the
time-saving and cost-down due to non-reworking has not
been included in the comparison of working time listed in
Table 3.
In a traditionally fully manual operation, each size must
be worked out individually. However, sometimes in order
to achieve the delivery date, more and more manpower will
be required, leading to inconsistent production quality and
the need for additional tool path editing time. But when
using the proposed CAPP system, after the standard size of
shoe mold is determined, the other sizes can follow the
suitable machining process, consistent production quality
can result and less tool path editing time will be needed
compared to a fully manual operation. A comparison of a
fully manual operation and the proposed CAPP system is
presented in Table 4.
7 Conclusion and future work
In order to reduce the tool path editing and programming
time, this paper proposed the use of CAPP to reduce
processing time and increase efficiency. Developing a
CAPP system that can generate a process plan for general

Table 4 A comparison between a fully manual operation and the proposed CAPP system

Production quality Knowledge reuse Tool path editing Reworking status

Full manual operation The quality may be unstable The cutting status of every
shoe size needs to be set
up repeatedly
CAPP system The quality is stable The cutting status can be
applied elsewhere
The tool path editing time is
longer and the results are
not identical
The tool path editing time is
shorter and the results are
identical
The possibility of
reworking is high
The possibility of
reworking is low
Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2012) 58:607–619
production problems is difficult but not impossible. This
paper proves it feasible to capture the domain knowledge of
a certain production process and embed that knowledge into
a CAPP system. We showed that by using such a system, a
very complicated process planning problem can be handled
using a knowledge-based CAPP approach. With such an
approach, the traditional manufacturing process of shoe
molds can be converted to an automated manufacturing
process using CAPP. With the implemented system, real
production shoes have been created in this way, which also
supports the effectiveness of this approach.
No matter if it is generating auxiliary boundary curves or
setting up machining parameters, the manual manufacturing
process can be converted to a standard automatic manufac-
turing process. The objective of automatic tool path
generation, quick production, and consistent quality can
be achieved successfully. Not only does the CAPP reduce
the production time, but it also unifies the machining
sequence of each shoe model and this shortens the product
development process and the following CNC machining
time.
For future work, this type of knowledge-based CAPP
system may be extended to other areas such as tire and toy
molds, as long as the process can be standardized by
incorporating the process domain knowledge into the
system. The material, cutter, and machining parameters
can vary, but the principle remains the same. The benefits
are clear, namely, by automating the manufacturing process,
the time and cost will be greatly reduced and the quality
and efficiency highly increased.
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