Multivariate analysis and evaluation of adaptive sheet metal assembly systems

The flexibility of sheet metal assembly processes is one of the most critical issues in the design stage of assembly systems. Currently in the automotive industry, flexibility and adaptability of assembly systems are mainly considered as the capability to assemble a family of products. The notion of assembly system flexibility, as understood from the point of view of error compensation by upstream processes, has not been widely researched. This paper presents a systematic method of flexible/adaptive assembly system evaluation, based on its ability to compensate for part dimensional variability caused by upstream processes. This allows for the expansion of the present design for manufacturability approaches by applying multivariate analysis and fixture diagnostic techniques. The proposed method was applied to evaluate a flexible assembly system at a US manufacturing plant.