Ps. Wu et al., HYBRID ASSEMBLY - A STRATEGY FOR EXPANDING THE ROLE OF ADVANCED ASSEMBLY TECHNOLOGY, Computers & electrical engineering, 22(2), 1996, pp. 109-122
In response to the market pressures for greater product variety couple
d with smaller batch size and quicker delivery, intelligent flexible a
ssembly systems are being adopted by many companies in developed count
ries. However, only large and well-established companies are positione
d to benefit from them. In consequence, the penetration of advanced as
sembly technologies has been woefully slow. Use of dedicated manual as
sembly line is the most common assembly practice in many less develope
d industrial societies like Hong Kong. To stay competitive, these soci
eties require less capital intensive assembly strategies that allow si
multaneous assembly of different products on the same assembly line. T
his paper addresses the needs of such societies by proposing a new hyb
rid assembly strategy. The proposed strategy is suitable for adoption
by small companies used to manual assembly. It converts an existing si
ngle-product manual assembly line from one of single-product productio
n to one capable of assembling multiple products through the controlle
d introduction of robot stations. It requires the robotic operations t
o fit into the work mode of an otherwise manual system. Two major prob
lems arise due to the introduction of robots into a manual assembly li
ne. They concern: (i) the identification and retrieval of workpieces f
rom a continuous flow line; and (ii) the cooperative interface between
human operators and the robot stations. Technological solutions are p
roposed for these problems. The principles underlying the proposed app
roach are illustrated through a case study.