Assessment of the economic feasibility of robotic assembly while conveyor tracking (RACT)

Abstract

SUMMARY This paper is the third in a series of publications by Abdel-Malek (1986, InlernationalJournal of Production Research, 24, 1025-1041) and Abdel-Malek and Boucher (1985, International Journal of Production Research, 23, 197-208). It extends the previous work to cover the concept of robotic assembly while conveyor tracking (RACT). Analytical models are developed to aid the application engineers to depict the effect of RACT implementation on the assembly process throughput. The models also help in assessing the susceptibility of the RACT concept to the different design parameters and its economic feasibility.