Patent ID: 8428765

Claim:
An optimal process determining system comprising: a shape memory unit that stores a material shape and a product shape; a tool holder information storage unit that stores information of a plurality of tools and information of a plurality of holders; and a process determining unit including a processor that determines an optimal process for forming the product shape from the material shape, wherein the process determining unit executes: a temporary optimal process determining step of determining a temporary process that includes information of a plurality of individual processes, wherein the information of each process includes tooling information comprising the tool, the holder, and a tool projection length, and wherein the information further includes a sequence of the plurality of individual processes; a similarity determining step of determining a similarity between toolings of a selected two individual processes in the temporary process; an integrated process determining step of determining a plurality of integrated processes for which the tooling of one of the individual processes having a high similarity is integrated into the tooling of the other one of the individual processes; and a process determining step of determining a process from among the plurality of integrated processes on a basis of an actual machining time in each of the integrated processes, a unit integration reduction time that is reduced as one of the toolings of the individual processes is integrated, and a number of the individual processes integrated.