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The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) is a concept level manufacturing process and material selection tool. The MAS generates a dialogue with the designer, inquiring about batch size, typical tolerances, size, overall shape, and cost requirements. At each step along the way, the user is presented with an updated, ranked list of manufacturing possibilities. A similar method is used to define the attributes for material selection (yield strength, density, etc.), and generate material rankings. The final result is a ranked list of viable combinations, obtained through a process/material pair optimization.

The MAS is a Java(TM) applet freely available via the world wide web. It is inter-linked with web pages of tutorials, and reference pages explaining the facets, fabrication processes and material choices. The MAS performs its calculations using capability data from a remote database - which can be maintained and updated via the Internet. A framework is provided for a first order cost estimation - along with examples for selected processes. Another extension provides for the generation of process chains - using secondary processes to refine certain features on a part.