  Today's forging die manufacturing process must be adapted to several
evolutions in machining process generation: CAD/CAM models, CAM software
solutions and High Speed Machining (HSM). In this context, the adequacy between
die shape and HSM process is in the core of machining preparation and process
planning approaches. This paper deals with an original approach of machining
preparation integrating this adequacy in the main tasks carried out. In this
approach, the design of the machining process is based on two levels of
decomposition of the geometrical model of a given die with respect to HSM
cutting conditions (cutting speed and feed rate) and technological constrains
(tool selection, features accessibility). This decomposition assists machining
assistant to generate an HSM process. The result of this decomposition is the
identification of machining features.
