Minimizing Cost of Assembly of an Interrelated Dimensional Chain Product Using ABC Algorithm

Mahalingam Sivakumar,Natarajan Eswara Prasath,Kandasamy Jayakrishna,Nagarajan Lenin,Hao Gao

doi:10.1155/2021/9811204

Abstract

Selective assembly is a method where components made with wider tolerance are grouped into a number of bins. Based on the best combination of the bin, the corresponding group components are randomly selected and matched together to make an assembly. Existing techniques focused on equal group number partitioning of components, equal probability, equal group width, and equal area methods to minimize either clearance variation or surplus parts using different optimization techniques. Mostly, simple assemblies with two or three components are worked by various authors in the literature without considering their original dimension by considering only their component’s tolerance. In the present work, components are classified into different unequal group numbers based on their tolerance values. The interrelated dimensional assemblies are made in a single stage by matching the parts based on the best bin combination obtained by the artificial bee colony algorithm. A simple linear assembly and a three-armed knuckle joint assembly are considered examples of problems to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method by minimizing the manufacturing cost.

Highlights

Manufacturing of products involved various manufacturing processes to ensure the products’ geometry, shape, size, and accuracy
In linear assembly, compared with the existing method, the length of the bin combination is reduced by introducing a new method. e proposed method has arrived at a clearance variation of 15 μm, which is 2.5 μm less than the existing method dealt by Wang et al [33]
The interrelated dimensional chain product is manufactured with significantly less manufacturing cost by implementing the novel unequal grouping method. e proposed method is implemented to minimize the manufacturing cost of linear and complex assemblies

Summary

Introduction

Manufacturing of products involved various manufacturing processes to ensure the products’ geometry, shape, size, and accuracy. Tolerances of a mechanical assembly have a good bonding with the cost of manufacturing, quality, and reliability of a product. The identification of scientific methods for tolerance allocation to the components of the assembly in view of achieving the manufacturer’s objectives is the great motivation to the researchers. E precise assembly needs close tolerance components to perform the product’s required functioning, leading to secondary operations, increasing manufacturing costs. E cost of product/assembly obtained by these methods is mainly based on two factors: clearance variation and surplus parts. As per the existing literature, these methods were contributed to minimizing the manufacturing cost of the product. An effective method is required to minimize the manufacturing cost of a product to a further extent by minimizing the clearance variation and keeping zero surplus parts. Important kinds of the literature among them are presented

Literature Review

Problem Definition and Methodology

ABC Algorithm

Conclusion