Using physical interfaces for product design: from design to assembly planning

Abstract

Mass customization demands a wide range of product variants being provided by the manufacturer in a short time. To respond to that, companies embrace approaches such as product platforms and modularization. This impacts the product development process (PDP), especially at the design stage. A major concern is the definition of component and system interfaces since these become essential inputs for later stages. Yet, a suitable method to describe the interfaces, represent them, and share them within a product model is still elusive. Since the information enclosed in the interface is multi-faceted, ranging from geometry to function or kinematics, it can be adjusted or enriched in every stage of product development. Then, it is crucial to understand how this information can support product preparation and planning, as well as how it can be reused in product design or redesign. Thus, this work aims to assess the extent to which these factors were considered in the assembly domain. The study started by presenting current practices on representing the interfaces in the product design and continued by exploring how the information on the interfaces can be used for assembly planning. Subsequently, it proposed a way to represent the knowledge enclosed in the interface and concluded by explaining how this knowledge can be exploited by different stakeholders to improve the process planning and the overall assembly system. A case study shows the application of the proposed approach. Overall, the results showed the benefits of a better representation of interfaces in product design, specifically for the assembly domain, aiming to contribute to defining a strategy for knowledge reuse in manufacturing.