Effects of product design on assembly lines performances: A concurrent engineering approach

Purpose – The paper's aim is to assess the impact of product related features on the performances of assembly line manufacturing systems, also providing a specific Design for Manufacturing and Assembly rating index to assess the goodness of a product design solution with respect to assembly line performances.Design/methodology/approach – A computer simulation‐based parametric analysis was carried out to assess the impact of four major product‐related parameters. 216 different assembly line balance problem instances were evaluated. Findings allowed to develop a DFMA rating index specific for assembly line manufacturing as well as design guidelines.Findings – Assembly sequence degrees of freedom and the ratio of the average task duration to the maximum duration are the most influencing parameters. While the former should be maximized, only a moderate task duration variability was found beneficial. The influence of other factors resulted less marked and changing on a case‐specific basis.Research limitations/...

[1]  Anders Drejer.  Are you innovative enough , 2008 .

[2]  P. M. Pelagagge,et al.  A Methodology for Selecting Assembly Systems Feeding Policy , 2011, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[3]  J. Driscoll,et al.  The definition of assembly line balancing difficulty and evaluation of balance solution quality , 2001 .

[4]  Cheng-Wen Lee.  The innovation and success of consumer electronics using new product development process , 2007 .

[5]  P. Soundar,et al.  Concurrent design of products for manufacturing system performance , 1994, Proceedings of 1994 IEEE International Engineering Management Conference - IEMC '94.

[6]  Donatella Corti,et al.  A concurrent engineering approach to selective implementation of alternative processes , 2004 .

[7]  Ernie Appleton,et al.  Product Design for Manufacture and Assembly , 2008 .

[8]  Armin Scholl,et al.  Balancing and Sequencing of Assembly Lines , 1995 .

[9]  Andrew Kusiak,et al.  Design for agile assembly: An operational perspective , 1997 .

[10]  Kwai-Sang Chin,et al.  Strengthening Risk Evaluation in Existing Risk Diagnosis Method , 2010 .

[11]  Karthik Ramani,et al.  Integrated Sustainable Life Cycle Design: A Review , 2010 .

[12]  Nilmini Wickramasinghe,et al.  Identifying the need for world class manufacturing and best practice for SMEs in the UK , 2007 .

[13]  Antonio Casimiro Caputo,et al.  Integrating Production Systems Performances in the DFMA Methodology , 2006 .

[14]  Roger V. Johnson,et al.  Optimally balancing large assembly lines with `FABLE' , 1988 .

[15]  Seppo Hänninen,et al.  Product innovation as micro-strategy , 2007 .

[16]  M. Kilbridge,et al.  The Balance Delay Problem , 1961 .

[17]  William V. Gehrlein,et al.  A comparative evaluation of heuristic line balancing techniques , 1986 .

[18]  Ezey M. Dar-El,et al.  MALB—A Heuristic Technique for Balancing Large Single-Model Assembly Lines , 1973 .

[19]  Robert P. Smith,et al.  The historical roots of concurrent engineering fundamentals , 1997 .

[20]  Preston G. Smith,et al.  Developing products in half the time , 1995 .

[21]  A. A. Mastor,et al.  An Experimental Investigation and Comparative Evaluation of Production Line Balancing Techniques , 1970 .

[22]  A. Seetharaman,et al.  The impact of Just-in-Time on costing , 2007 .

[23]  Paul G. Maropoulos,et al.  Manufacturability analysis of early product designs , 2003, Int. J. Comput. Integr. Manuf..

[24]  Matti Mottonen,et al.  Managing requirements in ICT companies , 2009, Bus. Process. Manag. J..

[25]  Mahendra S. Hundal.  Systematic mechanical designing : a cost and management pespective , 1997 .

[26]  Dragos Axinte,et al.  Manufacturability analysis system: issues and future trends , 2009 .

[27]  C. M. Hinckley,et al.  A global conformance quality model. A new strategic tool for minimizing defects caused by variation, error, and complexity , 1994 .

[28]  Dana S. Nau,et al.  Automated manufacturability analysis: A survey , 1995 .

[29]  Edward B. Magrab,et al.  Incorporating production concerns in conceptual product design , 2000 .