During the recent 10-15 years, Computer Aided Process Planning and Die Design
evolved as one of the most important engineering tools in sheet metal forming, particularly in
the automotive industry. This emerging role is strongly emphasized by the rapid development
of Finite Element Modelling, as well. The purpose of this paper is to give a general overview
about the recent achievements in this very important field of sheet metal forming and to
introduce some special results in this development activity. Therefore, in this paper, an
integrated process simulation and die design system developed at the University of Miskolc,
Department of Mechanical Engineering will be analysed. The proposed integrated solutions
have great practical importance to improve the global competitiveness of sheet metal forming
in the very important segment of industry. The concept described in this paper may have
specific value both for process planning and die design engineers
