Product Design for Automated Manufacture and Assembly

Summary Many of the problems being encountered in automated manufacture stem from the fact that the products which are now being produced were originally designed for conventional manufacturing and assembly processes. To enable products to be designed for automated manufacture and assembly it is necessary that a range of manufacturing related data which is relevant to the design activity is made available to the designer. The basis for establishing a set of design rules for automated and robotic assembly are presented together with a study of the relationship between product design and manufacturing tolerances. Consideration is given to the presentation of the product design information to the designer using computer aided techniques.