International Journal of Information and Computer Science (IJICS) Volume 3 Issue 2, March 2014

doi: 10.14355/ijics.2014.0302.01

www.iji-cs.org

Construction of Cutting Tool Life-cycle

Information Management Platform
Jing Sheng1, Yadong Fang2
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, XiaMen University of Technology, The Institute of Mechanical and Electrical
Engineer, Xi'an Technological University
Xiamen, Fujian, P.R.China, Xi'an,Shanxi, P.R.China
shengqqqqjing@163.com; 2tomfangok@126.com

*1

Abstract
To improve process capability in manufacture industry, the
information of cutting tool life-cycle is vital. The cutting tool
life-cycle management was presented. Some key technologies were investigated, including cutting tool resource
classification and code technology, etc.. Further more, the
cutting tools life-cycle management system was analyzed
and designed through IDEF (Integrated computer aided
manufacturing definition method ) methodology, and then
the key page of TLMS (tool life-cycle management system)
was employed according to J2EE (java 2 platformenterprise
edition (j2ee)) mode. The information management platform
of the cutting tool life-cycle is an effective way to solve its
shortage of resources during manufacture.
Keywords
Cutting Tool; Life-cycle Management; Classification and Code
Technology; Direct Marking Technology

Introduction
Traditional cutting tool management focuses on
warehouse-management problem, and its manufacturing, purchasing, maintenance and status information
are not considered. With development of enterprise
information technology, the shortcoming of traditional
management method has become increasingly prominent.
The paper discusses how to manage cutting tool from
its life commencement to termination (cutting tool lifecycle management, CTLM) for the problem above, and
constructs cutting tool life-cycle management system
(CTLMS) to support cutting tool information share on
the basis of J2EE framework by its key technology
research and system analysis. Cutting tooling life-cycle
is made up of four stages: initial stage, preparing stage,
usage stage and maintenance stage.
The Key Technology Research of Ctlm
Cutting Tool Resource Classification and Code
Technology
Hybrid classification is usually applied in cutting tool

management, and it is form of combining linear

classification and face classification. In face taxonomy,
given object is divided into series of faces with no
affiliation according to its inherent property, and each
face includes a group of items. Linear classification is
also hierarchy taxonomy, and it divides initial object to
be classified into several hierarchy items step by step
on the basis of selected property. In terms of
technology equipment navigation standard and OO
(Object Oriented) technology, cutting tool resource
discussed in the paper is polymerized by aiguille class,
reamer class, counter bit class, etc., and each class can
be divided into series sub-class.
In order to manage cutting tool information in various
stages, each cutting tool needs unified and
standardized logo (cutting tool information code).
There is coding without meaning and meaning coding
in information coding method. The first one is made
up of sequence coding and disorderly coding, and the
last one includes abbreviations coding, hierarchy
coding, matrix coding, combination coding and so on.
According to Chinese Standard about good bar code
and Shop barcode, cutting tool resource is encoded by
classification and sequence coding, and its coding
method is shown as Figure 1.
X13 X12 X11 X10 X9 X8 X7 X6 X5 X4 X3 X2 X1
Check code
Sequence code
Purpose
Small class
Medium class
Main class
Material class

FIG. 1 CUTTING TOOL RESOURCE INFORMATION CODING

STRUCTURE

(1)No.13 and No.12 items are material class to meet

expansibility requirement of resource coding. Cutting
tool resource material class coding is 04, and the other
is assigned to remaining enterprise resource except for
27

www.iji-cs.org

International Journal of Information and Computer Science (IJICS) Volume 3 Issue 2, March 2014

cutting tool.
(2)No.11 item represents main class of cutting tool
resource. 0 is traditional cutting tool, and 1 is NC
cutting tool.
(3)No.10 and No.9 items represent medium class, and
its partly assigned value is shown as Table.1.
(4)No.8 and No.7 items represent small class, and its
partly assigned value is shown as Table 1 ( Material
class is four ).

structure, Seven = X 2i .
i =1

(2)Sum by step I is multiplied by 3, Sodd = X 2i +1 . The

i =1

sum of all odd items is calculated, Sodd = X 2i +1 .

i =1

(3)The result of step II and step III are added up,

S=Seven+Sodd.

(5)No.6 item denotes cutting tool purpose. 0 is military

product, and 1 is civilian product.

(4)Let S be calculation result of step IV, and let P be a

whole-number multiple of 10, which is greater than or
equal to S. The difference of P and S is the value of
check code, T=P-S (P mod10=0, PS).

(6)The sequence code of cutting tool is decided by

No.2, No.3, No.4 and No.5 item.

Cutting Tool Resource Classification and Code

Technology

(7)The first item is check code, and its value can be

gotten by the algorithm, the range of value is 0-9.

By synthesizing reference literatures in the field of

direct marking, we considered that because of the
minor marking surface, curvature of tools surface and
the intensive reflected light of metal surface, direct
laser marking has been proved an exclusive method to
guarantee image quality. The combination of Direct
Laser Marking and 2D (two-dimensional) barcode has
supplied a new method on tools direct marking.

TABLE 1 CUTTING TOOL RESOURCE CODING VALUE ASSIGNING TABLE

Cutting tool
Cutting tool medium Cutting tool small
main class
class
class
Coding Meaning Coding Meaning Coding
Meaning
00
center dirll

...
00
aiguille
composite
15
aiguille
face milling
00
cutter
milling
traditional
01

0
cutter
tool
thread milling
19
cutter

00
lathe tool
10
cutter

10
planner tool
Mohs cutter
00
shank
cutter shank

00
tap cutter
09
shank
1
NC tool
extension
01

rod
02
boring head

17

It's easy to cause input errors, when the code as data is

input to computer or other equipment. In order to
reduce input errors, coding experts invent various
methods of checking wrong, and set up check code
based on the method. The paper set check code of
cutting tool resource coding in terms of calculation
Method about ENA-13, and its calculation steps are
shown as following:
(1)Starting from the second place, the sum of even
item of the coding is calculated according to coding
28

The equipments of cutting tool direct marking and

identification include laser marking machine,
handhold or fixed barcode identification equipment,
computer for data process, tools-hold frock and
auxiliary illuminate equipment. The process of cutting
tool direct marking and identification is shown as
Figure 2:
Cutting tool
information coding

Direct laser
marking

Barcode
Identification

Data
process

FIG. 2 CUTTING TOOL DIRECT MARKING PROCESS

(a) 1D barcode of code 39

(c) 1D Barcode marked on tool surface

(b) 2D barcode of data matrix (d) 2D Barcode marked on tool surface

FIG. 3 CUTTING TOOL LASER DIRECT MARKING

TECHNOLOGY

(1)Encode the information of the tool to form 2D

International Journal of Information and Computer Science (IJICS) Volume 3 Issue 2, March 2014

Requirement
formaulation rule
Production
technics info

Design planning
Manufacturing planning
Purchase planning

Quality system
standard
Provider info

M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7

A2

M1M2M3M4

Inventory
method

Process info
Basic info

A3

M3M4M5M6

A4

M2 M7

Inventory info

Usage info

A5

M7DNC

on
ti
ca
fi
ti de
e en o
ic id arc
ev
d B

M2

t
en
em
ag
an g
m in
s
U

M1

on
ti
ca
fi
ti de
e en o
ic id arc
ev
d B

f
af
st
ng
ti
ra
pe
O

r
re
tu
ac
uf
an
m
l
oo
T

pt
de
n
g
si
de
l
oo
T

er
id
v
ro
p
l
ia
er
at
M

pt
de
e
ar
ep
pr
t
uc
d
ro
P

r
pe
ee
k
ol
o
T

f
af
st
gy
lo
no
h
ec
T

le
ru

FIG. 5 CUTTING TOOL LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

MODEL DIAGRAM
le
ru
ss
ne
si
bu

ry
to
en
v
in
l
d oo
ho T
et
m

or
ri
te
In

rd
da
an
st

em
st
sy
y
it
al
u
Q

n
io
at
ul
rm
fo

le
ru
g
in
nn
la
P

t
en
m
re
ui
eq
R

Tool provider info

A1

Production technics
info

Requirement info

y
or
nt
ve
In

Ctlms Analysis and Design

Top-level functional model of CTLMS constructed by
IDEF0 diagram is shown as Figure 4. From the figure,
the function of CTLMS is to integrate information of
product technics, production plane and provider.
What's more, CTLMS provides cutting tool
requirement information, purchasing information and
status information according to cutting tool business
management rule.

Planning rule

Production
planning info

l
ro
nt
co

Figure 3 is example of cutting tool, that is, one

dimension and two dimension barcode by direct laser
marking technology.

t
en
em ng
ag idi
an v
m ro
P

(4)The data are transported through serial interface

(RS232 or USB) to computer for storage.

le
ru
ses
n r
si io
bu ter
In

(3)Scan and decode the barcode through barcode

identification equipment.

t
en
m
gae ng
i
an nn
m la
P

(2)Mark it on the surface of the tool to form permanent

image, this step should use laser marking machine.

cutting tool into general and special class. General

cutting tool need to be set up purchasing planning,
and special cutting tool should establish design and
manufacturing planning. Lastly, cutting tool design,
manufacturing and purchasing task are respectively
assigned to cutting tool design dept., manufacturing
dept. and material provider after production
preparing dept. adjust and approve.

t nt
en e
m
em re
ag ui
an eq
mR

barcode.

www.iji-cs.org

Requirement info
Design plan
Manufacture plan
Purchase plane

Cutting tool life-cycle management system

Process info
Basic info

Product plane info

Inventory Information

A0

Usage info

Cutting Tool Providing Management

Cutting tool designer, manufacturer and material
providing dept. execute respectively business activity
according to cutting tool month planning, and feed
back the process to cutting tool preparing department.
In addition, the module generates basic data, such as
cutting tool technology parameter.

g
in

.
er

.
C
N
D

t
en
pm
ui
eq

fy
ti
en
id
de
co
ar
B

f
af
st
g
n
ti
ra
pe
O

pt
de
ng
ri
tu
ac
uf
an
m
l
oo
T

pt
de
gn
si
de
l
oo
T

id
ov
pr
l
ia
er
at
M

t
ep
d
e
ar
ep
pr
ct
du
ro
P

er
ep
ke
ol
o
T

f
af
st
y
g
lo
no
Th
ec

FIG. 4 CUTTING TOOL TOP-LEVEL FUNCTIONAL MODEL

In order to further discuss the relation and constraint

among modules, the paper analyzes each module of
top-level function module in detail, and process
analysis of cutting tool life-cycle management is
shown as Figure 5:
Cutting Tool Requirement Management
According to instructive technics file, technology staff
sets up production file, and puts forward requirement
of cutting tool type and quantity in terms of
information about plant manufacturing capability,
production plan and cutting tool storage.

Cutting Tool Inventory Control

Cutting tool is identified, managed and controlled,
after it is manufactured or purchased, and its
borrowing and lending business is realized by barcode
identification device.
Cutting Tool Using Management
In order to meet requirement of tracking cutting tool
status information, its coding information is acquired
by barcode identification system, and its status
information is obtained in the process of DNC data
collection. The geometry parameter of cutting tool can
also be acquired by integrated with tool setting guage.

Cutting Tool Planning Management

Cutting tool Life-cycle Management System

Realization

Technology staff and cutting tool keeper divides

On the basis of key technology, analysis and design

29

www.iji-cs.org

International Journal of Information and Computer Science (IJICS) Volume 3 Issue 2, March 2014

above, CTLMS is realized operation between client

and server by JSP and EJB. The system database is
Oracle9i, and its web serve is Apach1.3 within Oracle
9i. The realization process of cutting tool life-cycle
management system is introduced by taking the role
of tool stock controller for instance.
The operation of tool keeper by CTLMS includes
cutting tool information search, import and export
management, borrowing and lending management,
costing management, stock taking, and inventory
management. Figure 6 shows cutting tool borrowing
and lending management module, cutting tool
resource can be filtered by name, code, using time and
so on.

Technological University (grant No. XAGDXJJ200706)

for supporting the research.
REFERENCES

Ammar, M.,Zayed, T., and Moselhi, O. Fuzzy-Based LifeCycle

Cost

Model

for

Decision

Making

under

Subjectivity. Journal of Construction Engineering and

Management, Vol. 139, No.5 : 556563, 2013.
Ribeiro, I., Pecas P., and Henriques E. Incorporating Tool
Design

into

Comprehensive

Life

Cycle

Cost

Framework Using the Case of Injection Molding.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 53, No.15 : 297
309 ,August 2013.
Guillem, Quintana and Joaquim, Ciurana. Cost Estimation
Support Tool for Vertical High Speed Machines Based on
Product Characteristics and Productivity Requirements.
International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 134,
No.1 : 188195, November 2011.
Jan,Niklas Keltsch, David, Probert and Rob, Phaal. A
Process

for

Configuring

Technology

Management

Tools. International Journal of Technology Intelligence

FIG. 6 CUTTING TOOL LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT WEB PAGE

Conclusions
Cutting tool is the costly consumptive resource for
advance manufacturing mode, and it plays a
significant role in flexibility, efficiency and correctness
of enterprise production. At present, it is required
urgently that cutting tool should be managed in its
life-cycle process with the development of digitallization production line and workshop. According to the
above requirement, the paper researches the key
technology of cutting tool life-cycle, and discusses
CTLMS analysis and design process. Lastly, the
realization and typical interface of CTLMS is
introduced. It is expected that its useful to realize
enterprise information construction for our national
defense industry on the theory.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors are grateful to the Science & Research

Foundation of Xiamen University of Technology
(grant No. YKJ1100512) and Research Fund of Xi'an

30

and Planning, Vol. 7, No. 3: 181-200, 2011

Professor J. Sheng received his first degree in Equipment
and Technology in 1989, Post Graduate Diploma in Electrical
Control and Automation in 1997 at Huazhong University of
Science and Technology, Hubei province, China; and
Doctoral degree
in Mechanical Manufacture and
Automation in 2008 at Northwestern Polytechnical
University,Shanxi province, China.
He has over 12 years of experimential and industry
experience and presently served as a professor for 10 years
with Xiamen University of Technology with more than sixty
papers to his credit in conference proceedings, National and
International Conferences and workshops.
Professor Y. D. Fang received his first degree in Package
Engineering in 1999, Post Graduate Diploma in Mechanical
Design and Theory in 2002 at Shaanxi University of Science
Technology, Shanxi province, China. And he obtained
doctoral degree in Manufacturing Engineering of Aerospace
Vehicle in 2006 at Northwestern Polytechnical University,
Shanxi province, China.
He has worked as a professor for 10 years for Xi'an
Technological University; holding over forty published
papers about network manufacturing and manufacturing
execution system in workshop.