Spare parts for selectively assembled linked parts in micro production

Production processes with small tolerances are still challenging the industry. The increasing competitive pressure raises the necessity of economically efficient processes. Assembling parts while considering part-specific clearance enables a widening of the tolerance field by considering trend specific clusters and matching. Two or more otherwise rejected parts are assembled to one functional assembly. Assembling parts under consideration of a trend-specific clearance affect the interchangeability of the assembled parts. In the case of small tolerances and a high widening of the tolerance field a systematic identification of the number of spare parts is required. An approach for considering spare parts and therefore, the interchangeability in the concept of tolerance field widening is presented. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.