Flexible Assembly Automation Makes Concurrent Engineering Possible

Abstract

Concurrent development of the manufacturing equipment parallel to the development of a new product is required. This 'concurrent engineering' is said to be important in the modern manufacturing; however, the method of realizing the policy is not always clear. This report discusses how to achieve concurrent engineering, and shows that flexible assembly automation is one of the most essential solutions for the problem. Case studies on three Japanese manufacturers are done, who could shorten the development lead time by introducing robotic assembly systems. Through the investigation it became clear that the flexible assembly system can reduce the production lead time as half as the one of the conventional dedicated automatic machines. Usually three months are sufficient to develop a new assembly line for a product consist of ten to twenty parts.