Reconfigurable Assembly System Design Methodology: A Wing Assembly Case Study

Jefferson, Thomas G.; Benardos, Panorios; Ratchev, Svetan

doi:10.4271/2015-01-2594

Cited by 17 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In the aerospace industry, fixed, dedicated automation systems are an established method used to carry out specific assembly processes such as drilling and riveting to build the required large structures (wings and fuselage) for long periods of time (Jefferson et al, 2015). Examples of these systems include the Kuka FAUB, 2 ElectroImpact E7000, 3 GRAWDE 4 and HAWDE.…”

Section: Automation In Large Aircraft Structure Assemblymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic vs dedicated automation systems - a study in large structure assembly

Ljasenko

Lohse

Justham

2020

Production & Manufacturing Research

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The manufacturing industry needs to increase productivity and flexibility to stay competitive. This requires more adaptable and versatile production capabilities. It is expected that dynamic systems, consisting of mobile robots, will be particularly prominent in manufacturing environments where it is difficult to move components and products in a flexible manner. This paper compares the relative advantages of a dynamic, mobile robot-based system with traditional dedicated automation systems. The study uses simulations to evaluate several representative scenarios with different product supply bottlenecks, interference among mobile robots and mixes of products inspired by the aerospace industry. The results show that mobility enables higher resource utilisation and increased flexibility. This highlights the potential operational advantages mobile robot-based systems would offer and gives clear justification to continue the development of dynamic, self-organising production systems based on mobile robots. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Automation In Large Aircraft Structure Assemblymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic vs dedicated automation systems - a study in large structure assembly

Ljasenko

Lohse

Justham

2020

Production & Manufacturing Research

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“…Other works seek to address the design of specific sorts of production system in more specific detail, for example "Assembly 4.0" type systems [9], or large-scale aerostructure assembly [21], or are primarily concerned by the safety and ergonomics considerations at the heart of manual assembly system design [7,8,37].…”

Section: Literature Review-design Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Function-Behaviour-Structure design methodology for adaptive production systems

Sanderson

Chaplin

Ratchev

2019

Int J Adv Manuf Technol

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Adaptive production systems are a key trend in modern advanced manufacturing. This stems from the requirement for the system to respond to disruption, either in the form of product changes or changes to other operational parameters. The design and reconfiguration of these systems are therefore a unique challenge for the community. One approach to systems design is based on functional and behavioural modelling, drawn from the field of design theory. Existing approaches suffer from lack of focus on the adaptive properties of the system. While traditional production systems design focusses on the physical system structure and associated processes, new approaches based on functional and behavioural models are particularly suited to addressing the challenges of disruptive production environments resulting from Industry 4.0 and similar trends. We therefore present a Function-Behaviour-Structure (FBS) methodology for Evolvable Assembly Systems (EAS), a class of self-adaptive reconfigurable production systems, comprising an ontology model and design process. The ontology model provides definitions for Function, Structure, and Behaviour of an adaptive production system. This model is used as the input to a functional modelling design process for EAS-like systems, where the design process must be integrated into the system control behaviour. The framework is illustrated with an example taken from a real EAS instantiation using industrial hardware.

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“…The most feasible configuration is chosen and taken into the third layer, which deals with physical implementation of the configuration selected. A methodology for reconfigurable production systems design is proposed by Jefferson et al (2015) based on axiomatic design and design structure matrices in order to translate and structure customer needs and high-level requirement into physical design solutions. Their methodology is based on three reconfigurable principles including the independence principle, the scalability principle, and the customization principle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The scalability principle gives the system an ability to deal with volume variations by a scalable architecture where adding an identical element increases the production rate. Customization is the priciple by which elements share a common interface connection to handle product changes without needing custom designs for each variant ( Jefferson et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In all cases, a systematic project model of a stage-gate character was used. The processes proposed in literature by, for example, Jefferson et al (2015) or Garbie (2014) support reconfigurable production system design but give limited support to the alignment to this type of stage-gate project model. The RMS literature strongly focuses on development of highly reconfigurable production systems, and the fact that reconfigurability is one ability to consider among others is often forgotten.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Exploring the design process of reconfigurable industrial production systems

Rösiö

Bruch

2018

JMTM

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore activities, challenges, and suggest tactics for the design of industrial reconfigurable production systems that can easily adapt to changing market opportunities. Design/methodology/approach The paper synthesizes the empirical findings of seven case studies including 47 in-depth interviews at four manufacturing companies. Findings A conceptual production system design process and including activities that enables a long-term perspective considering reconfigurability is proposed. Additionally, critical challenges indicating that reconfigurable production system design is not a trivial issue but one that requires separate control and coordination are identified and tactics to overcome the challenges described. Research limitations/implications The authors propose a process for designing reconfigurable production systems that are better suited to adjust to future needs. The knowledge of reconfigurability from the reconfigurable manufacturing system literature is applied in the general production system literature field. This study contributes to a clearer picture of managerial challenges that need to be dealt with when designing a reconfigurable production system. Practical implications By clarifying key activities facilitating a long-term perspective in the design process and highlighting challenges and tactics for improvement, the findings are particularly relevant to production engineers and plant managers interested in increasing the ability to adapt to future changes through reconfigurability and improve the efficiency of their production system design process. Originality/value Although reconfigurable production systems are critical for the success of manufacturing companies, the process of designing such systems is not clear. This paper stretches this by giving a comprehensive picture of the production system design process and the activities that need to be considered to meet these challenges.

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Reconfigurable Assembly System Design Methodology: A Wing Assembly Case Study

Cited by 17 publications

References 30 publications

Dynamic vs dedicated automation systems - a study in large structure assembly

Dynamic vs dedicated automation systems - a study in large structure assembly

A Function-Behaviour-Structure design methodology for adaptive production systems

Exploring the design process of reconfigurable industrial production systems

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