Abstract
Digital twin-driven productions have opened great opportunities to increase the efficiency and quality of production processes. Smart assembly lines are one of these opportunities in which the effects of geometric variations of the mating parts on the assemblies can be minimized. These assembly lines utilize different techniques, including selective assembly and locator adjustments, to improve the geometric quality. This paper signifies that the achievable improvements through these techniques are highly dependent on the utilized fixture layout for the assembly process. Hence, different design methods and productions that can be followed in a smart assembly line are discussed. Furthermore, different scenarios are applied to two industrial sample cases from the automotive industry. The aptest design strategy for each improvement technique is determined. Moreover, the strategy that can result in the highest geometric quality of assemblies through a smart assembly line is defined. • The smart assembly line improves the quality by optimizing the production parameters. • Selective assembly and individual locator adjustments are employed in the line. • Fixture layout can significantly affect the improvements in a smart assembly line. • Individualized locator adjustment is the superior compensating the variations. • The superior design strategy of each production method is introduced.
Highlights
The availability of enormous amounts of data and automated production lines has opened new opportunities in design and production processes
Having minimal sensitivity to part and locator variations might contradict achieving the highest quality by adjusting these parameters during the production. This contradiction is because if the assembly is not sufficiently sensitive to the variation of locators, adjusting those locators may not significantly modify its geometry. This study addresses this concern by investigating the effects of the sensitivity of assembly on the achievable improvements through Selective Assembly (SA) and Individualized Locator Adjustments (ILA) in a smart assembly line
Different design and production scenarios are evaluated by implementing them in the design and production of two sample cases from the automotive industry
Summary
The availability of enormous amounts of data and automated production lines has opened new opportunities in design and production processes. Utilizing digital twins is one of these opportunities that is receiving significant attention in research topics about manufacturing [1, 2]. There is a shift in most of the industries toward digital twindriven manufacturing so that it is predicted utilizing digital twins and interactive cyber–physical manufacturing are inevitable requirements of thriving industries in the future [3,4]. The studies regarding digital twins in manufacturing mainly propose utilizing the digital twin for a new application or developing a framework or platform for a previously proposed application. The effects of shifting the manufacturing toward a digital twin driven production on the design have been addressed in fewer publications. Comparative studies to define which strategy is superior in this type of manufacturing are missing
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