A novel comparative design procedure for reconfigurable assembly fixtures

While market requirements demand that manufacturing systems increase their responsiveness, assembly fixtures remain limited in corresponding to the same demand. Fixture designers as practitioners are left without guidance to design reconfigurable fixtures. This study proposes a comparative design procedure for reconfigurable assembly fixtures that can adapt to manufacturing system characteristics by using efficiency metrics. In this study, a theoretical analysis based on manufacturing systems is presented to establish efficiency metrics. Later, these metrics are utilized in a design procedure that offers guidance and determines the efficiency of fixtures in conceptual and detailed design stages. Finally, an experimental verification is presented. (C) 2017 CIRP.