Formal description of processes—the first step in design automation

The formal description of objects is well known and has long been standard practice in many fields. Machine parts, for example, are commonly described by engineering drawings made according to standards which have nearly universal acceptance. The problem of design automation is to take such a description of an object, combine it with information about manufacturing methods and facilities, and automatically generate a formal description of a process which will produce the desired object. In a simple case this may mean no more than generating a tape for a numerically controlled machine tool, while in more complex cases it may require, as intermediate steps, the generation of parts lists and the design of subassemblies.