A Rule Based Assembly Sequence Generation Method for Product Design

In concurrent engineering, the integration of the designers’ knowledge and experience, and computer technology into the design process is very important to improve design quality and production efficiency. A feasible design alternative that follows the design rules for assembly will make product manufacturing and assembly more successful. However, designers seldom consider assembly problems in their product development processes. This drawback often occurs due to conflicts in communication between the design and production departments and will cause severe assembly and manufacturing problems. To assist designers with the assembly issue in the design process this research presents a contact relation matrix (CRM) approach to generate assembly sequences for product design. The procedure developed for the CRM approach is based on the four rules identified from the part contact relations and a matrix representation to match the recommended design alternative with the four rules. A procedure is then employed to identify the assembly priority for the recommended design alternative. The part assembly sequence is generated with a sorting procedure. A hand-held hairdryer and an Italian style coffee maker are used as cases to help explain the feasibility of the CRM approach. The results from this study should help designers to examine the possible part combinations and make the necessary modifications for the recommended design alternative. The CRM approach can also be linked with an existing matrix approach in generating and evaluating design alternatives. By integrating the CRM and matrix approaches, the design quality and efficiency will be greatly improved.