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Optimal assembly plan generation: a simplifying approach

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Abstract

The main difficulty in the overall process of optimal assembly plan generation is the great number of different ways to assemble a product (typically thousands of solutions). This problem confines the application of most existing automated planning methods to products composed of only a limited number of components. The presented method of assembly plan generation belongs to the approach called “disassembly” and is founded on a new representation of the assembly process, with introduction of a new concept, the equivalence of binary trees. This representation allows to generate the minimal list of all non-redundant (really different) assembly plans. Plan generation is directed by assembly operation constraints and plan-level performance criteria. The method was tested for various assembly applications and compared to other generation approaches. Results show a great reduction in the combinatorial explosion of the number of plans. Therefore, this simplifying approach of assembly sequence modeling allows to handle more complex products with a large number of parts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Lyon, Bât Nautibus 8, Boulevard Niels Bohr, Villeurbanne Cedex, 69622, France

    Michel Martinez

  2. Hanoi University of Science, 334 Nguyễn Trãi, Thanh Xuân, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Viet Hung Pham

  3. INSA de Lyon, Bâtiment Blaise Pascal 7, Avenue Jean Capelle, Villeurbanne Cedex, 69621, France

    Joël Favrel

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Correspondence to Michel Martinez.

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Martinez, M., Pham, V.H. & Favrel, J. Optimal assembly plan generation: a simplifying approach. J Intell Manuf 20, 15–27 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-008-0100-x

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