Integrated setup planning and fixture design: Issues and solutions

Setup planning and fixture design are two closely related tasks. While setup planning is constrained by fixtures to be applied, it also provides guidelines for fixture design. This cyclic interaction creates the "chicken or egg" dilemma, which is the main research barrier. Most researchers circumvent this problem by focusing on either setup planning or fixture design. Although promising results have been achieved in each field, they cannot be profitably integrated to deal with real world manufacturing problems. This paper proposes an integrated solution methodology, driven by tolerance analysis and augmented by product, process, and production modeling. Related research issues are discussed and solutions are presented with examples.