Joining process selection in support of a proactive design for assembly

There is extensive evidence to suggest that many industrial products are designed with far too many parts. Design for assembly (DFA) case studies indicate that, in many designs, large proportions of excess components are only used for joining. In many cases an:excessive number of incorrect joining processes are used, possibly due to a lack of knowledge of such factors as availability, cost and functional performance of alternatives. Selection methodologies exist for some individual joining technologies. However,. selecting the most appropriate technology is usually left to the designer through a non-formalized judgemental approach. This paper introduces a new methodology for identifying the most appropriate joining technology and its specific process variants, through both a paper-based methodology and software implementation, as a part of a proactive approach to DFA. The. underlying strategy adopted is described and the selection process itself and its application to industrial case studies is demonstrated.