Digital manufacturing and flexible assembly technologies for reconfigurable aerospace production systems

Reconfigurability is an important aspect of modern manufacturing systems as it facilitates the seamless introduction of new products to production and the adaptation to demand volatility. Advanced manufacturing technologies broadly used in automotive industry have limited application for typical UK aerospace manufacturing, as they require production volume and repetition of operations to deliver value. This paper discusses a framework of key technologies ranging from digital manufacturing concepts to flexible fixturing that enable reconfigurability in aerospace manufacturing systems. Initially, the overall architecture of the framework is presented illustrating the key components such as a cloud based data storage mechanism, an intelligent multi-product assembly station, kitting boxes embedded with sensors, a manufacturing network management portal and a decision support tool that combines data analytics and discrete event simulation. Afterwards, the main functionalities and technologies of the components are described and finally an industrial application scenario for the proposed framework is presented. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.