Assembly research

Assembly research comprises the definitive description of how parts interact during assembly (called Part Mating Science), the collection of part mating processes into systems that assemble products, and the integration of this process into the factory as a whole. Products can be assembled by four techniques: manual labor, special purpose machines, programmable systems, or hybrids of the above. Each system includes material handling, parts feeding, assembly, and inspection. Issues of design include technology, part mating and product system design tools, and economics.