Patent ID: 8818536

Claim:
A method for creating a numerical control (NC) program for controlling a test run, the method comprising: accessing a base NC program including at least one contour variable for defining at least one test contour shape to be produced in the test run, and at least one decision function for automatically selecting the at least one contour shape; receiving one or more input values that are characteristic of a processing operation for parts that are actually to be produced subsequent to the test run, the one or more input values being selected by an operator through a selection function; creating the NC program for controlling the test run from the base NC program by processing the at least one decision function to automatically select the at least one test contour shape from a predetermined number of test contour shapes based on the input values and assigning a value to the contour variable, the value indicating the at least one contour shape that is selected by the decision function and to be produced during the test run; and executing the test run based on the NC program to produce at least one test contour shape for determining, optimizing and/or validating processing parameters and/or control parameters of the processing operation for parts that are actually to be produced subsequent to the test run.