Publications Details
Automated analysis for lifecycle assembly processes
Many manufacturing companies today expend more effort on upgrade and disposal projects than on clean-slate design, and this trend is expected to become more prevalent in coming years. However, commercial CAD tools are better suited to initial product design than to the product`s full life cycle. Computer-aided analysis, optimization, and visualization of life cycle assembly processes based on the product CAD data can help ensure accuracy and reduce effort expended in planning these processes for existing products, as well as provide design-for-lifecycle analysis for new designs. To be effective, computer aided assembly planning systems must allow users to express the plan selection criteria that apply to their companies and products as well as to the life cycles of their products. Designing products for easy assembly and disassembly during its entire life cycle for purposes including service, field repair, upgrade, and disposal is a process that involves many disciplines. In addition, finding the best solution often involves considering the design as a whole and by considering its intended life cycle. Different goals and constraints (compared to initial assembly) require one to re-visit the significant fundamental assumptions and methods that underlie current assembly planning techniques. Previous work in this area has been limited to either academic studies of issues in assembly planning or applied studies of life cycle assembly processes, which give no attention to automatic planning. It is believed that merging these two areas will result in a much greater ability to design for; optimize, and analyze life cycle assembly processes.